Winterbottom's hard hitting speech, which is critical of Bermuda, is a warning to all Bermudians that we may be neglecting our premier industry. We do not think it should be dismissed. This is the time for reality. Tourism is in trouble whether we like it or not.

Bermuda's tourism has not been in great shape since the major strike of 1981.

There are clear indications of a shrinkage in the value to Bermudians of regular stay visitors. Mr. Winterbottom feels that Bermuda has been losing its primary market because of its own actions or oversights. We think he is probably correct and that there has been a tendency to run Bermuda for the convenience of Bermudians, ignoring the vacation patterns and the needs of visitors. We are still running basically the same resort which was a big success in the 1950s.

Mr. Winterbottom, who has consulted on tourism in Bermuda for many years, feels that improving Bermuda's tourism requires a better product and a more competitive cost structure. He says that to stay high in the market Bermuda must improve its tourism product, enrich the visitor experience and create a more positive relationship between the price of a vacation and the value of a vacation.

He feels that Bermuda needs a renewed and sustained commitment to tourism which will require a belief in the importance of tourism. Tourism problems will not correct themselves and require sustained change. There are no quick solutions and Bermuda must take action if tourism is to remain the mainstay of the economy.

This newspaper has maintained for years that one of the problems of tourism was that no-one had demonstrated to Bermudians how the tourist dollar gets in their pocket. This oversight has led some Bermudians to think that tourism has nothing to do with them.

Mr. Winterbottom says that Bermuda must demonstrate the value of tourism to Bermudians and improve the profitability of tourism for investors. The hotels are not in good shape and for them to improve investors must be confident that their investment will return profits which justify their efforts. He says that the purpose of improving tourism is to provide the economic benefits that the Bermudian community is dependent upon and he stresses that Bermudians need to recognise the importance of their own welfare.

We suspect that the failure to recognise the importance of our own welfare comes from many, many years of the good life. We find it hard to believe that Bermuda which has been so profitable for so long has problems with its tourism income. It does have problems and, despite a good start to 1994 tourism, there are now very weak figures for April and May. We think good early 1994 figures were only the result of a terrible East Coast winter.

Mr. Winterbottom says that tourism cannot just be exploited and depleted.

Tourism must be nurtured and sustained and it must have the support of Bermudians. Bermudians have to stop thinking that visitors will continue to come here and make us rich no matter how we treat them.