Potential visitors to the Island are being put off by the tone of online conversations, says booking agent Fiona Campbell.Ms Campbell, a Bermudian whose Toronto-based company Bermuda Accommodations Inc, sources holiday accommodations for people coming to Bermuda, and operates the website bermudarentals.com, told The Royal Gazette that she had lost a booking for a party of four because of perceptions formed about the Island.She forwarded an e-mail from the client to Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert who shared an excerpt of it on Facebook, sparking a firestorm of debate.Mr Furbert argued in his post that the email showed that the tone and tenor of critics of the government in online forums was damaging to Bermuda tourism.But he drew more fire from some of his critics who accused him of taking the email out of context when the full version of the email was printed.“He's playing politics with legitimate concerns that any visitor would have — even himself — when planning a vacation,” said Charlie Swan of the United Bermuda Party yesterday.When contacted by The Royal Gazette, Ms Campbell empathised with Mr Furbert's position on the tone of debate in cyberspace.“There's a torrent of negative commentary,” she said in an e-mail. “The core problem is there's a small group of people in Bermuda who take it upon themselves to hop online and make comments on every headline on these websites. And it's putting the tourists off.”She revealed that she had also received another e-mail — from a gay couple — who cancelled their plans to come here because they were concerned that the Island is not gay friendly.She has urged both sets of clients to reconsider.“Tourists do in fact research holiday destinations on line using blogs, Wikipedia, Frommers, Trip Advisor and any newspapers they can find,” Ms Campbell told The Royal Gazette.“They don't just book a cheap ticket and wing it. They are particularly worried about crime. Commentators on line who think their constant negative input on blog sites does not affect the perception of visitors are gravely mistaken.“Their negative comments create a huge distortion in the perception of the island abroad. What tourists do not deduce is the political agenda that often underscores those comments.”Words like “deterioration”, “incompetence”, “overly expensive”, “crooks and burglars flowing over the landscape like roaches in every direction” used in the online commentaries leave tourists with a distorted impression of the island, she continued.“It is not encouraging. And it is not helpful when so many good people in hospitality, merchandising and transit are working their hearts out to create a lovely experience for the happy vacationer. In truth, the Island is absolutely spectacular, close to millions of people on the East Coast who yearn for clean pink beaches and a nice quiet meal. What's wrong with that picture? SELL IT ALREADY!Ms Campbell added: “While the overall tourism figures are going down and we all struggle with the fall out from the recession grinding along, we should be standing together as Bermudians to make sure every tourist meets nice people, happy to help, everywhere they go.“The glittering tourism edifice is not rebuilt in a day. We could start by not stabbing everyone else's good ideas in the back.“Restore our pre-eminent position as a first class destination in the eyes and minds of the visitors who are already on the island enjoying it TODAY. Let's not destroy our business with our politics.”Ms Campbell said that she was not trying to cast blame or point fingers but that “people need to understand that they are shooting themselves in the foot when they shoot their big mouths off.”She added that some stories in the media also does some damage.One example was this newspaper's story on Bishop Lloyd Duncan's views about homosexuality. “That turned a lot of people off,” Ms Campbell said. “It made a lot of gay people feel if they go down there, 'am I going to be harassed?'”She said while she could not understand why Bermuda had not addressed the issue of sexual orientation discrimination, she was shocked by the “scorn and derision” that followed in the online comments.