Opposition MP Wayne Furbert claimed today that Bermuda Tourism Authority chairman David Dodwell had become the “de facto Tourism Minister, setting the agenda with apparently no oversight and no accountability”.

And the Shadow Tourism Minister criticised Mr Dodwell’s belief that the Island must “give customers what they want” to become competitive.

“How far do we go?” asked Mr Furbert. “Do we open up a total prostitution ring because some customers want prostitution, like in Amsterdam? We are not everything for everybody.”

The Progressive Labour Party politician claimed Mr Dodwell had spoken recently on radio talk shows in support of allowing tourists to use “some other transportation” than auxiliary cycles, buses, taxis and ferries.

Mr Furbert said allowing visitors to hire cars was not going to fix the Island’s tourism product and could have a detrimental impact on the quality of life of Bermudians.

“I don’t care if it’s three-wheel or four-wheel, the congestion that would take place and the quality of life and the business taken away from taxi drivers, will be enormous,” he said.

“I give this picture of 8,000 people getting off a ship. Imagine 2,000 getting in a car and can you imagine that coming out of Dockyard?”

Mr Furbert, a former Tourism Minister, claimed the One Bermuda Alliance’s “slow progress in putting together a functioning, fully operational Tourism Authority” was “very concerning”.

He called on Tourism Minister Shawn Crockwell to appoint the authority’s board by the end of the month to “perhaps spark new ideas and spur on that speed and efficiency that the OBA promised”.

Mr Crockwell responded by saying the board had been appointed and would be announced next week.

“Yet again Shadow Minister Furbert has spoken without knowing the facts,” said the Minister. “Had he asked me directly, rather than issue an erroneous and misleading statement to the media, I could have informed him that the process to identify a dynamic board of directors has been completed and an announcement on the new members will take place next week.”

He also refuted a claim from Mr Furbert that the authority’s new chief executive officer would not be in place until April.

“The plan has always been to have the Tourism Authority CEO in place by January 2014 and we are on target with this deadline,” he said.

Mr Furbert insisted that the OBA had “missed all of their promised deadlines” regarding the authority.

He said: “We recognise finding the best person for the job takes time, but between the delays and bungling of the gaming referendum and the delays in setting up the TA [Tourism Authority], Bermuda and Bermudians are falling further and further behind

“At present David Dodwell is the de facto Tourism Minister, setting the agenda with apparently no oversight and no accountability and we have heard nothing new or innovative from him since taking the reins.

“Instead, all we’ve heard is a rehash of the same failed ideas we heard from him almost 20 years ago.” He said the Tourism Authority Act gave Mr Dodwell “basically total power”.

The MP said the OBA had already “wasted a year” on gaming by failing to hold a referendum yet and had “fumbled around” trying to put the Tourism Authority together.

“We still don’t have a board or key players in place,” he said. “We have yet to see the promised speed and efficiency of ‘the professionals’ and Bermudians need to see action.

Mr Dodwell said in a statement last night: “The PLP spokesman has made inaccurate assumptions and then crafted a whole story around the inaccuracies. I repeat my offer to Mr Furbert that if and when he would like to ask any questions we are open and willing to assist.

“The information released by Bermuda Tourism Authority contradicts much of what Mr Furbert says.

“Our biggest concern here is that some members of the public may become confused by comments/allegations being made by the spokesperson.”

Mr Dodwell said the facts were that the CEO position was being made “right in line with our schedule” and there had been no delay in setting up the Tourism Authority.

“We are working to a schedule which we have already announced,” he said. “We have given an exclusive period to BDOT [Bermuda Department of Tourism] staff for applying for jobs.

“Interviewing has being going on and we are now advertising for staff publicly. As previously announced, the transition is occurring and will be complete no later than March 31.

“The Minister has been working very hard with us to identify a board for the Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA) and we believe it will be announced in the very near future.”

Mr Dodwell added: “I am not the Minister of Tourism; the role of the BTA is very clear. We are very focused on bringing the BTA into existence; we are creating, in effect, a $30 million company and that takes time, care and focus.

“We have some big challenges. This has not been working for many years and this new organisation, the BTA, is going to get it right.

“In terms of ideas, the direction forward is clearly laid out in the National Tourism Plan. Why Mr. Furbert would think these are failed ideas, I do not know. They most certainly are not and the BTA is determined to make this plan a reality.

“We would point out that the BTA legislation was only passed by the Senate in October. Since then a great deal of work has been accomplished, as we have reported, and that continues, day by day.”