Government is looking to find an option for a vacant East End hotel site which will serve Bermuda in the long and short term.

And talks were held yesterday with one of the groups interested in leasing the former Club Med site in St. George's, said Tourism Minister David Dodwell.

The Ministry of Works and Engineering became landlords for the site on Thursday night after 11 employees who were maintaining the closed hotel for Club Med International were laid off.

Meanwhile, the Tourism Ministry has taken responsibility for looking at potential developers, investors and operators.

Three groups, two of which are North American and one with European and Asian ties, are interested in taking over the site and Government officials met with one of these yesterday.

"There is a high level of interest'' amongst these groups, confirmed Mr.

Dodwell, who declined to disclose any further information concerning them.

He stressed that the Club Med International pull-out was not a bad thing as it had handed over control to Government without a long period of litigation.

Parties who had contacted Government about the hotel property prior to the recent pull-out had been directed to deal with Club Med officials.

They had wanted to wait until Club Med walked away from their lease before opening discussions so they would not have to deal with the hotel group first and then Government when it resumed control.

"Government is now in control. The Ministry of Tourism and Government are looking at both the long term and short term,'' said Mr. Dodwell.

"I see this as a significant opportunity as Government is now in control of the direction of what will happen there, where in the past we have been a facilitator.

"We want to be able to see what we can do in regard to a new lease, new investors and a new concept at the site.

"We started doing this a couple of weeks ago in anticipation of this day,'' he revealed.

The goal now was to get the one player with the right concept and the right idea for the site plus the necessary investment.

"We are looking for reputable and credible investors and operators. We want to put the two together in the best long term interest to all Bermuda, not just Tourism solely.''