attractions.

The newly printed "Bermuda Heritage Passport'' contains discount vouchers and advertisements for the Aquarium, the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute, Fort St. Catherine, the National Trust, the Maritime Museum, and the National Gallery.

Information about other cultural attractions, such as the Botanical Gardens, the Carriage Museum, and the Masterworks Foundation Gallery are also included in the ten-page pamphlet.

National Trust director Amanda Outerbridge said the passport was the first project developed by the six organisations, which have joined together to form Heritage Bermuda to improve all the attractions' marketing efforts.

"Two months ago, the organisations got together and decided to develop this organisation together to our mutual benefit,'' she said. "The initial thrust was that a joint marketing venture was a good idea and we were all happy to develop a heritage passport with joint admission.'' Mrs. Outerbridge said the idea had been discussed in the past but part of the reason it was now being launched was because it would be easy to distribute it through "tourist boxes'' now set up throughout the Island's hotels. About 50,000 packages have been printed, she said. Passports are also available in each of the six attractions.

"We hope to direct people -- we are not in competition -- onto the next attraction,'' said Mrs. Outerbridge.

"Since establishing the organisation, we have met with the Minister and Director of Tourism to talk to them about it plus additional marketing opportunities which we can do with the help of the Tourism Department's expertise.

"They were very excited since they, and especially their overseas sales force are always looking for new ideas to base cultural tourism marketing on. this is the first in what we hope will be a number of steps.'' National Trust museums committee chairman Jay Bluck, one of the supporters of the passport, said it was a good marketing strategy.

"I think group marketing does good things for everybody,'' he told The Royal Gazette . "All of the participating groups benefit from cross-advertising.'' And he said the marketing scheme was timely since he believed the market for cultural tourism was growing.

"People don't want to just sit on the beach anymore,'' he added. "They want to learn about the country they're visiting.

"It helps us give extra value to visitors, especially since visitors perceive Bermuda as being horrendously expensive.''