Officials in St. George's believe that a mega yacht marina scheduled to be built in Dockyard will bring more boats to Bermuda and not just the West End.

As early as 1994, the Corporation of St. George's has suggested turning the town into a haven for mega yachts. Last year, The Corporation hired Mark Soares, of Bermuda Yacht Services, to improve the town's mega yacht business.

But last night Beau Evans, Chairman of the Corporation's docks committee, said a high quality marina in Dockyard would draw more mega yachts to the whole Island, not just the West End.

"Whatever they do could only help us," said Mr. Evans. "We're pleased about it. If we could bring 200 or 300 ships to the Island, that would be great."

Right now, Mr. Evans estimates that St. George's attracts around 1,000 yachts a year, with around 50 of those being mega yachts.

The new marina, to be developed under a private-public partnership between the West End Development Company (Wedco) and South Basin Development Ltd, is expected to contain a mix of around 200 slips.

St. George's meanwhile can currently only support around ten mega yachts simultaneously. Instead of building a new marina, the strategy in St. George's was to adapt the existing cruise ship docks to support mega yachts.

"I understood that they were doing something at the West End, but I didn't realise it was quite so imminent," said Mr. Evans. "It's quite impressive. The effort they're putting into this is huge."

He said that St. George's did not need to draw hundreds of mega yachts. "If we had ten at a time, we'd be thrilled. It would fill the town up. Our ideal would be having 15 to 20 at a time."

Mr. Evans also said the Corporation was not looking at mega yachts as a replacement for cruise ships.

"I don't think we've given up on mega ships," he said. "We would have to widen the cut, but it's far from a dead issue.

"There's no reason that mega ships and mega yachts have to be exclusive. Our docks could host them both."

St. George's Mayor Mariea Caisey said she was confident the Dockyard development would not deter mega yachts from visiting St. George's, saying: "I don't think it will hurt us. I hope not.

"Most of the transient boats that come to St. George's are repeats. They know St. George's, and they know that St. George's has more to offer."

She also joked about the amount of development at the West End, saying: "I think they have enough up there already. Soon the Island will start to tilt."

She praised Mr. Soares for his work, saying that she felt the St. George's docks had been doing very well and that Mr. Soares' contract had been extended by a year.

Former St. George's Mayor E. Michael Jones was less optimistic about the effect the new marina will have on the town. "It would certainly be competition," he said.

Mr. Jones said St. George's had been slow to develop the infrastructure needed to support larger numbers of mega yachts, saying: "It was in a way a last second move. They found out they were getting fewer cruise ships, and so they tried to do something to fill the gap.

"They put a few ads in a few magazines, and I think there was some improvement, but many of the yachts would have come to St. George's anyway."