similarly successful visit to Europe earlier this year, justifies the decision for Bermuda to "go back on the road''.

By all accounts, the degree of interest -- boosted by the successful decision by Premier Jennifer Smith to head the tour -- exceeded the expectations of Tourism officials and hoteliers on the trip.

The challenge now is to convert that interest into visitors actually coming to the Island, and to show that "the New Bermuda'' is more than public relations hype.

Even if that is achieved, it will still be for nought if visitors come to the Island and are disappointed, or if they are put off by the high costs associated with getting to -- and staying on -- the Island.

Bermuda can only become truly competitive if it is able to reduce the cost of vacations while improving the quality of people's holidays.

Some improvements have already taken place, or are in the works. Several hotels, notably Elbow Beach, have made massive investments to improve their properties. Many tourist operations are working more closely together to provide the experiences that the groups targeted by the Monitor Group want.

But it will not help in the long run unless all of Bermuda makes an effort to improve the Island's product.

It cannot be emphasised enough that there is no single panacea to the Island's tourism ills: not lower airfares or more charters, not hotel casino licences, not duty free shopping. All or some of these ideas together will help, but none on their own will do much more than slow the decline -- and some could hasten it.

A great deal, however, can be done on a smaller scale.

Taking time out to give a visitor directions, making sure that the Island's highways and byways are clean, giving visitors a welcome in shops and restaurants can all go a long way to improving a visitor's stay.

Based on the letters we receive, many people leave the Island with fond memories of the Island's beauty and the friendliness of its people. Many of those visitors will return. But we also receive too many letters from visitors whose holidays have been wrecked by poor service or crime and they will never come back.

It is up to all of us to turn the industry around.

HELP KOSOVO EDT Help Kosovo Few could have missed the pictures of anguish and suffering of Kosovar refugees which have filled our television screens and newspapers each day.

There will be some people who wholeheartedly support the actions of NATO in trying to stop the Serb advance into Kosovo, while others will question whether the West is being drawn into a new Balkan quagmire.

But there can be no question that there are hundreds of thousands of people who are suffering and who have lost their homes, loved ones and livelihoods in a way that make the problems facing Bermuda seem puny by comparison.

The Red Cross and other charities have launched an appeal to Bermudians to help the refugees. We urge Bermuda to respond, as it has so many times in the past, as generously as it can, to the needs of others who are less fortunate than ourselves.