tourism official said in Bermuda yesterday.

Mr. Jean Holder, secretary general of the Caribbean Tourist Organisation, said travel was not expected to return to the strength of 1989/90 until 1993, although some improvement would start to show this fall.

Mr. Holder was giving the opening speech of the first Island Tourism International Forum at Bermuda College, a gathering of 100 tourism experts and island representatives from around the world. He said the Caribbean region -- in which he included Bermuda -- was struggling to match its competitors.

"If we are to compete we have to face up to the realities of our present performance,'' he told the forum. "The fact is that other countries and other regions are eating our lunch and stealing our tourism revenues, especially in the US, the single largest source of visitors to our region.'' The problem comes down to poor management and inadequate marketing, said Mr.

Holder. Tourism bosses needed to experience airports and hotels for themselves. And as for marketing, the Caribbean story had not been adequately told.

"We are neither Florida, Hawaii, nor the Pacific. Those who wish the traditional Caribbean experience do not knowingly go to those places. It is to their credit that these states have, through their marketing strategies, been able to persuade the market that they offer what we have.

"It is to our discredit that we have been unable to articulate and publicise the differences.'' But Mr. Holder did have some good news for Bermuda. Tourism was in difficult times all over the world, and clear signs of recovery were visible, if not everywhere. And he had words of comfort on the question of value for money -- Bermuda's traditional worry and the theme of the four-day forum.

"The question of value for money has very little to do with the price charged for the accommodation,'' Mr. Holder said. "Repeatedly, throughout the Caribbean, it is the more expensive properties that generally enjoy the highest occupancy levels and the highest levels of repeat visitation, indicating a high level of customer satisfaction.'' Bermuda and the Caribbean should not panic and start dumping rooms on the market at competitors' prices, he added. "The emphasis must always be placed on improving the product, where possible adding value, and intensifying and expanding the marketing.

"There really is not much wrong with the product that some investment in upgrading and some new hotels will not fix. The answer is high quality service, pampering our guests, more excitement in the daily programmes, preserving our environment and all the aspects of our cultural and historic inheritance, taking the strongest possible measures against the harassment of tourists, and dealing firmly with the problem of rising crime.'' Mr. Holder confirmed Bermuda's strategy of going for high-income tourists by saying islands should target visitors with household incomes of $75,000-plus.

Later in the day the forum heard from consultant economist Dr. Auliana Poon, who said the future for island economies like Bermuda lies in a new high-quality, flexible, "Green'' type of vacation.

The "old tourism'', standardised and rigidly packaged, is no longer the way forward, said Dr. Poon, a consultant economist based in Trinidad and Germany.

Consumers were now more hybrid, more spontaneous and more understanding of local culture, wanting to be different from others and not satisfied just with sunbathing. "This is no longer a game of price. It's a game of quality and quality means people,'' she said.

Dr. Poon added that resort islands have to follow Japanese industry, which has been successful by offering high quality goods at mid-range prices -- something already being done by all-inclusive resorts and cruise ships.

Islands had to care for their environments and publicise how environmentally sound they were.

Prof. Klaus de Albuquerque, of the College of Charleston, South Carolina, a specialist in sustainable tourism, said Bermuda should be proud of its concern for visual quality, maintaining open spaces and keeping agricultural land.

Instead of concentrating on the number of visitors, islands should try to boost the amount tourists spend and the time they stay, he said. Natural, historical and cultural assets should be tastefully developed, rather than building new man-made attractions. And upscale tourists should be targeted, he said.

As a result, a stand could be taken against rising numbers of visitors and the environment protected.