The Opposition has renewed its calls for a tourism authority to tackle the decline in the second pillar of Bermuda's economy.

Shadow Tourism Minister Michael Dunkley issued a statement yesterday claiming the Island had suffered "crushingly low" air arrivals for the past seven years and criticising the Premier for blaming the latest slump on bad weather.

His comments follow a speech given by Kim Swan in the House of Assembly on Friday, when the Opposition leader said locals were being driven out of an industry they loved.

He urged the Department of Tourism to "fish" for visitors on the eastern seaboard of the US and questioned why there had been talk of a tourism authority for 12 years without any result.

Mr. Swan also spoke angrily about Government's decision to suspend the permit of Radio Cabs taxi firm for failing to use GPS, as required by law.

"They are not the only people who are non-compliant in a number of areas," said the UBP leader, during a high-volume contribution to the motion to adjourn. "The Premier was non-compliant when he brought the Uighurs in."

At that point, Premier Ewart Brown told the Speaker of the House: "He needs to be stopped. Look at him!"

Dr. Brown pointed out that his actions regarding the Uighurs led to a no-confidence motion in the House. "I took the heat and I'm here," he said.

Senator Dunkley's statement referred to statistics released on Thursday which showed air arrivals fell by ten percent in the first three months of this year.

A total of 28,865 people flew to the Island between January and March, compared with 32,235 persons over the same period last year. Transport and Tourism Minister Dr. Brown said part of the drop was due to severe winter storms in the US which caused 45 flight cancellations.

Sen. Dunkley said: "No one should buy the excuse that bad weather is the reason first quarter air arrivals came in at catastrophically low levels; this time, ten percent below those for 2009, which was the start of one of the worst years in modern tourism.

"The failure to attract sufficient numbers of visitors to Bermuda is unique to this Government — preceding bad weather, recession, even volcanoes. Bad weather is a feature of every winter, both here and abroad."

He said the Premier failed to reveal how many vacationers cancelled their trips due to bad weather, suggesting he was "putting spin before truth".

The Opposition Senate leader claimed as many as half of those who came to the Island by air in the first quarter were on business or visiting friends and family.

"These are not the people that Bermuda Tourism spends millions of dollars to attract," he said. "Tourism's money is spent on attracting vacationers and that is where a hard look is needed. Are we getting the biggest bang for the buck?"

The UBP politician added: "We have long called for the establishment of a tourism authority to bring professional leadership to the fore for Bermuda Tourism, as well as accountability.

"People have to be held responsible for the performance of tourism. We don't have that now, otherwise the Premier would be out of a job."

Mr. Swan said on Friday that as Dr. Brown was stepping down in October, a succession plan was needed for an "industry that has slumped and has caused this country to find itself limping along".

The Premier told MPs: "I'm going to try to keep a calm voice as I respond to some of the issues raised by the leader of the Opposition."

Suggesting that Mr. Swan had made many of his criticisms before, he admitted: "I'm kind of fatigued in terms of answering them."

Dr. Brown said the Department of Tourism understood well the "very fundamental concept of fishing where the fish are".

He offered to show Mr. Swan the department's advertising, promotion and marketing schedules for the east coast so he could come to the House to "speak intelligently about what we do".

He said there wasn't a tourism destination on the planet that hadn't suffered from the global economic downturn yet Bermuda had managed to keep all of its flights and gain a new air carrier.

"I don't live in 'Negativeville'," he added. "I will leave it to members of the Opposition to talk about the downside because that's more consistent with their mandate."

The Premier's spokesman said he was unavailable for further comment yesterday. Junior Tourism Minister Marc Bean said: "I will offer no comment to Sen. Dunkley's remarks."