Tourism Minister the Hon. CV (Jim) Woolridge said he was left "cold'' by a US tourism expert's candid speech to the business community.

Mr. Woolridge accused Mr. Bert Winterbottom of "misleading'' residents with some of his statements concerning local tourism trends.

Furthermore, many of Mr. Winterbottom's suggestions were ones his Ministry was already working on, he claimed.

"I think he's looking for a job,'' Mr. Woolridge said in summing up his opinion of the speech, delivered at the Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting last week.

"The first part of the speech was mostly what I said during my Budget statement.

"It is refreshing to see he agreed with everything we've been doing, but he leaves us cold where he says we differ and doesn't say where...I don't know what he's referring to.

"And change is a nice word and gets everyone excited. But I looked up and down (reports of the speech) and listened to it on TV and he made no constructive suggestions on how that was to take place apart from saying St.

George's and the bases need something done...'' Mr. Winterbottom had said Bermuda must make major changes in its approach to tourism or it will never get back to the boom days of the 1980s. He conceded he differed with Mr. Woolridge on what was needed to "get the numbers back up''.

The Maryland-based international tourism consultant quoted such grim statistics as bed nights plunging 23 percent in the last decade and the cost of a Bermuda holiday doubling since 1980.

From 1987 to 1992, tourism was down, he said.

Although it started going back up last year, the results were "not nearly as good as 1987''.

Mr. Winterbottom, who provided input to the Bermuda Tourism Strategic Plan, said a better product was required and more competitive price/value relationship.

The importance of tourism also needed to be hammered home to Bermudians.

But Mr. Woolridge said the expert had failed to give Chamber members the full picture.

The Tourism Minister said 1980 was a "great year'' when compared to 1981 because that was when the Island suffered a "crippling strike''.

"Business was destroyed and we are still feeling the effects'', Mr. Woolridge said. "(The strike) closed the Island down.'' He also noted there were more than 1,000 less beds today than there were in 1980 due to the closures of several guest properties and hotels, including Club Med and the Bermudiana.

And he pointed out that in the time, the proposed Ritz Carlton, which would have boosted hotel beds, was put on hold.

As for the banner year of 1987, Mr. Woolridge said that was when the Tourism Minister at the time "opened the floodgates to 11 cruise ships'' due to flight cutbacks.

"It's not the cruise ships that bring in the major revenue to the Island and keep the bulk of the people employed,'' he said.

Mr. Woolridge said the tourism downturn Mr. Winterbottom referred to had nothing to do with "the product'', which was basically the Island and its hotels.

He agreed that the hotels had to remain competitive by keeping their physical plants in top shape such as the Elbow Beach and Southampton Princess, which he said were in "excellent condition''.

However, some properties which needed redoing such as the Hamilton Princess Hotel, were losing money and could not afford expensive facelifts right now.

Government was "putting the pressure on'' the hotels to refurbish, he said.

But it was not about to give them any breaks, he said, because he did believe the taxpayers' money should be spent on private enterprise.

"Everything he referred to in his speech we have been saying for years -- it's only when someone from the outside says them that people pay attention,'' Mr. Woolridge added.

Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge