many tourists and people in the tourism industry, high prices and declining service means it's becoming more a case of Paradise Lost.

That's the title of the cover story in the November issue of The Bottom Line, The Royal Gazette's biannual economic review, which is available in stores tomorrow. The 68-page free colour magazine investigates what's wrong with the Island's former No.1 moneymaker.

Whether it is the priceyness, traffic, or the lack of quality service, Bermuda appears to be missing the boat when it comes to remaining among the world's most popular holiday destinations. Is Bermuda pricing itself out of the market, or does the Island simply need to meet the expectations its prices demand? With the last major hotel built over 20 years ago, some argue Bermuda needs a new resort to attract visitors, while others believe improving the existing facilities is the more important issue. Failed hotels like Club Med and the Bermudiana lie derelict, while hopeful resorts like the Ritz Carlton and the Bermuda Financial Centre struggle to find financing.

Combatting the big hotels are small properties and guest houses which seemed to be faring remarkably well until the mid eighties. Since then, the tourism crisis has hit extra hard, and cottage colonies and small hotels, which were unable to cut their prices to meet the larger resorts' competition, are taking a new look at what keeps visitors coming back.

Other features in the magazine look at international business, the latest business technology and local investments.

Competition between Bermuda and the Cayman Islands is getting tougher in the battle to become the world's leading offshore business centre. Cayman capitalised on Bermuda's uncertainty leading up to the referendum on Independence. And now, with the decision to remain a Britain colony, Bermuda must fight to prove its stability in the international business world.

The Climate Change and Insurance Risk Conference will be convening for the first time at Marriott's Castle Harbour this November, and the world's leading insurance and climate prediction experts will come together to brainstorm.

Highlighting Bermuda's position as an international catastrophe reinsurance centre, as well as its prestigious Biological Station, the conference will prove that weather forecasting, though not yet perfected, is on its way to becoming an exact science.

The Bottom Line also profiles business success stories, Bill Midon of BSL, and Sheila Nicoll, president of the Bermuda Insurance Institute, and takes a look at Bermuda's top captive manager, Johnson & Higgins, and talks to its president, Brian Hall.