Hoteliers are hoping to market the Island as a winter getaway for golfers from Scotland.

Bermuda Hotel Association executive director John Harvey believes the Island can attract golfers from Scotland who are frustrated that they cannot play during the winter because of the cold weather.

The marketing initiative, if agreed, would come two years after the Island caused outrage in Scotland -- the home of golf -- by attacking its climate and courses.

The controversial radio advert which ran in the United States said Bermuda's eight courses had ocean views while "most Scottish courses have a view of a bog''.

And it claimed Scotland was full of "damp castles and mediaeval B and B's.'' Mr. Harvey said he did not think the adverts, which ran in 1999, would hamper plans to bring Scottish golfers to Bermuda during the winter.

"Sometimes you can turn lemon into lemonade. We can build on those with the right promotional effort,'' he said.

"If you make a mistake you don't fall on your sword, you spin it in a different direction. Those adverts were geared towards the US market, not the Scottish golfer.'' Mr. Harvey is preparing to put the plan to the BHA's marketing committee.

"Every year hundreds of Bermudians go to Scotland to play golf and if they want to really upgrade they go to St. Andrews. If they go to St. Andrews -- where the game was invented -- that's it.

"We don't have to sell a lot of beds, but if we can exchange things during the off-season when golfers want to play in Scotland but can't because there's snow on the ground, we could invite them over here.

"The airlines are still flying and the hotels are 35-40 percent less than peak season, so its a win-win situation.

"We get some people here who love it during the off-season because the courses are so quiet. We don't want to lose that but we could take it up a notch.''