It is not the right moment for Bermuda to fall in line with other countries that have non-governmental tourism authorities to run their tourism efforts, Tourism Minister Ewart Brown told the House of Assembly on Friday.

Replying to calls from the Opposition for an authority jointly run by Government and tourism businesses, Dr. Brown said there was nothing evil about such a setup.

But he said he was focused on restructuring the Department of Tourism and its various on-Island and overseas operations to make them more efficient and effective as he seeks to rebuild Bermuda?s second economic pillar.

The United Bermuda Party has called for a tourism authority to replace the Ministry, saying such an independent body, driven by market forces and heavily supported by businesses within the industry, would be more in tune, forward thinking and fiscally prudent.

Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell pointed to a number of countries, including Dubai, Ireland, Hawaii and various European countries, that are enjoying tourism success having set up such tourism authorities.

?We have to fix the process and get politics out of tourism. The rest of the world is doing it differently. That?s why you see places like Dubai doing it differently. They never put politicians in there,? Mr. Dodwell said.

?We do not want politicians running tourism,? the former Tourism Minister and hotelier said. ?This is the right time. If we do it, we will catch up (with the others).?

He pledged that within six months of any future UBP Government there will be a tourism authority established to blend the public and private sector.

But Deputy Premier Dr. Brown said he had confidence in the changes set in motion by his Ministry?s $40.2 million Budget allocation that include wide-ranging restructuring.

Dr. Brown said there was a need for reorganisation to reduce agency fees and ensure ?our dollars are working hard in the market place to increase visitors?.

The Toronto, Boston and Atlanta sales offices have been closed and the North American tourism operation has become centralised in New York. In the UK almost $3.5 million is now being saved after the ending of the tourism contract with Hills Balfour.

Home Affairs Minister Randy Horton, who had filled in while Dr. Brown was making his way back to the Island from New York during the morning session of the tourism debate in the House of Assembly, thanked Hills Balfour for their efforts but said: ?For the $3.5 million we were spending, we were not realising anything like our return on the investment.?

An in-house team of three is now running the UK campaign in London.

Speaking about the move to end what was previously perceived as a ?disconnect? between the sales and marketing teams in the tourism operation with a newly structured North American team, Dr. Brown said the previous set-up had led to things ?falling between the cracks? between New York and Bermuda and even within Bermuda itself.

?The sales reps did not think they had to sell. They thought it was just about education and awareness. Well, I have not run into people who say ?Where?s Bermuda?? People know of Bermuda as an exotic place ? and some might say an expensive place,? he said.

?Our sales team must sell and their performance will be judged according to their sales.?

He explained the Tourism Department had now split North America into eight separate markets and different sections of new team would have responsibility for specific regions. How well they do will be partially judged on how many visitors they generate and this will be determined by tallying up the postal zip codes of visitors coming to Bermuda.

Mr. Dodwell said he was generally happy with the improvements being made to air service and affordability of tickets to the Island, such as the imminent arrival of JetBlue Airways.

However, he spoke of his concern at an over-reliance on boosting cruise ship visitor numbers to fill the gap in tourism figures due to the reduction of air visitors.

And he urged the Government to consider reigning in some of the millions of dollars it is spending on radio and TV advertising campaigns and use these resources on direct marketing by utilising e-marketing and databases with details of previous visitors to the Island.

?We don?t need to reach out to 90 million people on the eastern seaboard of the US, we need to get them one to one. All we need are 400,000 visitors and that includes business visitors,? he said.

He was also critical of the problems that hotel developers encounter when they come to the Island.

?We are a red tape Island ? we tell people that we don?t want their business ? rather than being a red carpet Island,? he said, referencing the lack of movement at Morgan?s Point or the former Club Med resort.

In response, Dr. Brown hinted at a major announcement in the hotel field coming within the next few weeks. And he said resort and hotel developers were now being chaperoned through the application process by his Ministry.

?We have told developers to consider the Department of Tourism as your agency. We will work through the maze for them so they don?t get frustrated ? it is better than them calling Works and Engineering or Planning on their own,? he said.

?The tourism debate was marred by mistakes and errors in the main budget estimates book and follow-up errata sheets.

It had been Home Affairs Minister Mr. Horton who had faced the difficulties while presenting the estimates to the House in Dr. Brown?s earlier absence.

Mr. Dodwell told the Tourism Minister: ?The Minister of Home Affairs did an admirable job but struggled deeply with the numbers. I was disappointed with the presentation ? the accounts really were embarrassing.

?Minister you have to look at this, we had the book two weeks ago and then there was a supplement errata and there were major changes, three pages of it, but the presentation numbers were totally different.

?There were big gaps and it was embarrassing and it?s not a good indication ? if the numbers aren?t right ? that you?ve got your total act together.?