Shadow Tourism Minister David Allen received a broadside for his "doom and gloom'' rhetoric on the state of the industry.

Government Tourism Minister David Dodwell complained that the PLP were constantly painting a negative picture of the state of the tourism business, which was doing nobody any good.

And he said the Opposition had no real answers to the challenges facing both the public and private sector as they fought to return Bermuda to its visitor heyday.

"It is as though David Allen is saying the best days of tourism are gone, I am not buying that, it is nonsense,'' he said.

"We are going through changes and are re-structuring the tourism product and marketing, which is all part of the five year plan which will see that the best days are yet to come.'' He was speaking after Mr. Allen berated the UBP for the amount of money it spends on marketing Bermuda to the rest of the world -- and said a PLP Government would immediately review all the current marketing contracts.

In addition, he said they would introduce a whole series of incentives and promotions to bolster the industry, saying the Government's marketing was failing.

Mr. Dodwell said it was present policy to review all contracts and recently two had been issued to new companies. And he questioned where the substance was in claims about PLP incentives.

"There are no specifics about how much they would be,'' he said. "They say they would alter hotel occupancy tax but how are they going to pay for it? "It is criticism, not critical thinking. That is what they lack, it is old thoughts not new thinking.'' The Tourism Minister argued that most of Mr.

Allen's tourism ideas -- cultural, educational and sports -- were already in use.

"It is easy for the PLP to sit there and say `we don't have to tell you how we will do it until we are in Government', but the voting public have a right to know what their plan would be.'' Mr. Dodwell said PLP plans to expand the conventions section would be a waste of money, since that aspect already existed in the various offices in North America.

And he slated plans to change the tourism authority, saying the PLP had not previously wanted to serve on the boards.

Accusations of "shutting down most of the tourism industry'' as part of changes to the Tourism Board, were totally unfounded, he said.

There was restructuring of the department but there were no plans for any redundancies.

"He is trying to make political hay stirring up civil servants by saying we are going to get rid of them. I don't have the authority nor the desire to get rid of them.'' In a rallying call, Mr. Dodwell pointed to the five-year tourism plan unveiled earlier this year, saying it was a road map for the future with tourism appreciation, product re-packaging and marketing as its main thrusts.

"I haven't seen the plan from the PLP. I am optimistic that with everybody pulling together we will turn this around, not the Minister of Tourism on his own -- it is a going to be a team effort.'' David Dodwell