Bermuda faces an uphill struggle to regain its top ranking in the tourism world, Monitor Group expert Michael Fairbanks.

And last night he told a public meeting that Bermuda "was probably the most defensive environment we have ever worked in.'' The worldwide head of the Boston-based group's country competitiveness section said: "It took them a long time to get into this situation -- it'll take them a really long time to get out of it.'' Mr. Fairbanks refused to set a timescale for the recovery of Bermuda's faltering economic powerhouse.

But he explained that setting a timescale can be counter-productive -- because "everyone focusses on that and you lose sight of the real discussion.'' Mr. Fairbanks was speaking at the end of a two hour-plus meeting at the Leopards Club in Pembroke.

The meeting -- attended by around 40 people -- was the first of a series of meetings taking ideas presented to politicians, business and the hotel industry to the public in a bid to try and breathe new life into the tourism trade.

Monitor hit the headlines last month when the group said the blame game for Bermuda's tourism woes had to stop and be replaced by a new cooperation and innovation.

Some members of the public at the meeting blamed a variety of problems for the visitor decline, including racial inequality, foreign hotel management and staff or imported entertainers.

Mr Fairbanks said: "It was exactly as I expected -- I expected people to listen respectfully and, when given the opportunity to comment, become quite aggressive.'' But he insisted there was light at the end of the tunnel for Bermuda's tourism business.

He said: Bermuda's definitely going to change for the better -- the question is if it's going to get worse before it gets better.

"My feeling, if I was asked to guess, is it's probably going to start getting better. The urgency and the enthusiasm is enough to get things started.''