Government’s National Tourism Plan will revamp the Island’s struggling tourism industry over the course of ten years, with an advisor to assess at least five key areas.The Plan, which could cost up to $200,000 to deliver, is to set three, five and ten-year milestones for reviving the industry.Among other topics, it will address:l The possible transition to a Tourism Authority;l Bermuda’s potential for investment in new hotels and other developments;l The establishment of a Convention Centre on the Island;l How to position the Island as a year-round tourist destination;l Promoting the Island as a haven for medical tourism.The Plan will also examine the Island’s legislation and competitive position, with a view to courting local and foreign investment in tourism.The Ministry of Business Development and Tourism this week issued a request for proposal (RFP) seeking a consultant to create the Plan.Government expects to sign on formally with an advisor by the end of November.The call for applicants follows the development, since January, of a set of “strategic imperatives” for the industry over the next 12 to 18 months.That document, to be finished by the Tourism Board at the end of this month, is to form the basis for a long-term tourism blueprint.Prospective advisers have been asked to register their interest with Government by 4pm next Wednesday.All proposals must then be sent in to Government by November 14, with the job to be awarded on November 30.However, one deadline absent from the RFP is a target date for turning in the final Plan: Bermuda’s National Tourism Plan was expected to be released this summer, then postponed first until October, and then to “the early months of next year”, according to Tourism Minister Patrice Minors.A Ministry spokesperson said the Plan’s formulation “continues to progress according to the scheduled timelines”, but offered no further comment.Shadow Tourism Minister Pat Gordon-Pamplin called the October 19 issuing of the RFP indicative of “the concerns we have for the Government’s management of Bermuda tourism”.Nearly a year after the Tourism Board was set up, she said, Government was only now requesting input from eligible professionals to come up with the Plan.“The failure to act with haste in this important area of our economic life was highlighted over four months ago when a member of the Board challenged the Minister to make better progress, as not one line of a plan had been written,” the One Bermuda Alliance MP said.“The Minister, when she was first appointed, admitted having little knowledge of tourism and, accordingly, said she took care selecting a Board that could get on with the project. After their Tourism summit meeting in April, one would have thought quick action would be taken to move the matter forward.“But only now, seven months later, has an RFP been posted. We have noted that the document sets down an extremely tight time line for a response, and are left wondering how effective the proposal will be given such a constraint.”Mrs Gordon-Pamplin questioned whether a prospective advisor has already been contacted for “a head-start that can satisfy the proposal on such short notice”.The RFP, available online at the Government portal, states that applicants must submit a detailed breakdown of anticipated costs and delivery dates, plus the overall time expected to complete their task.Consultants will be judged on successful experience in developing tourism plans for jurisdictions similar to Bermuda in size and characteristics.According to the RFP, the Ministry has $150,000 to $200,000 reserved in the current Budget for the delivery of the Plan. The advisor will get a quarter of their total fixed price after signing with Government, plus another quarter on handing in a draft of the Plan with the rest contingent on acceptance of the final document.Since the proposals will not be covered by the 2010 Public Access to Information Act, the new strategies will be exempt from disclosure, but the RFP calls for a “vision of the market, products, services, brand image and marketing in the next ten years” as well a comprehensive overview of Bermuda’s current market situation.One prospective overseas consultant told The Royal Gazette his company understood the challenges faced by Bermuda tourism, and hoped to make a bid for the job in the next week.Expectations are riding high on the national strategy for the struggling industry, and the chosen advisor will have access to polls of air and cruise visitors, cruise staff, exit surveys from 2009 through 2010, and a complete inventory of the Island’s hotels and their capacities as well as Tourism Board minutes from this year, summaries of meetings with industry stakeholders, existing policies and legislation, and tourism authority documents from other jurisdictions.Useful websites: www.gov.bm, www.gotobermuda.com.