hotels seems to us to be a very small step in the right direction. No matter how many other destinations use departure taxes or how high those taxes are, the tax in Bermuda looks to many visitors like a final attempt to get the last penny.

Visitors departures from Bermuda can, and we think quite often does, go something like this. They have a final and expensive drink at their hotel and then pay the very high bill to which staff gratuities and Government occupancy tax and other extras like energy charges have been added. They then take an expensive taxi ride to the Airport with a grumpy driver who lectures them on local politics. At the Airport they find that porters are scarce and baggage carts are well hidden. They hump their bags to check-in and are then charged a final $15 dollars to depart Bermuda after which they have to hump their baggage again to US Customs. No matter how good a vacation you have had and no matter how happy you have been with Bermuda, that final experience is not a good one. If you have not had an especially good time, then it leaves you angry and frustrated and not in the mood to tell your friends to rush down to Bermuda.

While the new departure tax arrangement is a small step in the right direction, we must continue to work to make Bermuda kinder and gentler to our visitors. "Take it, or leave it'' will not do in the new cost and value conscious 1990s. We must be careful not to have visitors think we are keen on getting every last penny.

The term "package vacation'' generally implies one payment which includes transportation and accommodation. Bermuda has to understand "package vacation'' as something else. It should be the total impression and the complete ambiance Bermuda provides for a visitor.

Bermuda's "package vacation'' involves every person who comes in contact with a visitor during their stay being careful not to disrupt a very expensive holiday. It also involves making visitors feel welcome in Bermuda and being sure the stay is comfortable in terms of service and also in terms of good facilities and good accommodation and such things as good shopping, entertainment and sightseeing.

It is extremely important that we avoid the kind of scene which took place on Tuesday evening outside a Paget hotel. Two taxi drivers were involved in a loud slanging match in front of visitors over who was supposed to carry the passengers. Those visitors did not understand the row or need the hassle.

Visitor satisfaction is all-important. People will pay well for their vacation and go home happy if they feel they have been well treated and have had value for money. A very happy visitor was overheard in an elevator recently telling her friend she would be coming back to Bermuda because she had bought a piece of "my Wedgwood china'' for thirty dollars less than it would have cost at home.

Single incidents can mean a great deal, good and bad, but the overall ambiance that is Bermuda is what counts the most. Basically Bermuda is a very good package but it has some obvious problems which we must correct, of which courtesy and cost are close to the top.