The United Bermuda Party Senator said the Government was spending vast amounts more on tourism marketing per visitor than its competitors and it was high time for a complete restructuring.

"Tourism is spending more than $35 million a year on marketing, but if they were spending one dollar, they could not do any worse," said Sen. Swan, who also attacked the Tourism Plan 2005, launched this month by Tourism Minister Dr. Ewart Brown.

"Some people are embracing what the Minister has said but the base he is operating from is flawed. He wants Bermuda to change but he's not prepared to change his own department."

In his plan, Dr. Brown vowed to increase air arrivals to 400,000 within three years, to increase the per person visitor spending by seven per cent and to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of the Tourism Department.

But Sen. Swan said Government had failed to make badly needed changes in response to the findings of reports it had commissioned and had instead continued to spurn taxpayers' money.

Sen. Swan cited the Ettenberg Report, produced by tourism consultants for then-Tourism Minister Ren?e Webb in 2003.

He said it revealed that Bermuda had spent $36.8 million on marketing in 2002, at a rate of $10,514 per room and $78 per visitor.

That compared badly with our Caribbean competitors, he added. Barbados, at $22 per visitor, were the next biggest spenders, while Jamaica spent $14 per visitor and Bahamas $13.

"The report made it clear that Bermuda was by far the least effective in its use of marketing dollars for tourism, but the Government has not changed things," Sen. Swan said.

"We need a more effective spending strategy. What Ewart Brown is doing is just window dressing ? he's not addressing the real problems. The doctor is ignoring the diagnosis and he's just telling people what they want to hear. It's like he's sending the patient to Agape House and trying to make his last days more comfortable."

Sen. Swan, who has previously called for the Department of Tourism to be replaced by an independent tourism authority run by stakeholders in the industry, said the politics were not conducive to the effective running of tourism.

The necessary changes had been suggested by those within the industry at a meeting called by former Minister Webb at Number One Shed, he added, but Government had not responded to the pleas of tourism business people, at least partly because of political considerations.

"Looking at the numbers in the Ettenberg Report, it is clear that changes are needed," Sen. Swan said. "In business, those sort of numbers would not be overlooked.

"But success in politics is measured by perception rather than results. And sure, Dr. Brown's doing a good job in terms of perception, but I'm not buying this hogwash. He has done nothing to tackle the fact shown by the numbers which is that we are out of whack with reality."

Government figures showed that Tourism had spent more than $35 million every year between 1999 and 2003 and yet the industry continued to go downhill, he added.

"It's not working and even the ex-Minister (Ms Webb) has said it's not working," Sen. Swan said. "It is clear that we should have restructured a long time ago and the failure to do that has dug the hole even deeper.

"No private company would tolerate the way Tourism has been run, with three Ministers and four directors in six years. While the income is going down, the expenditure is going up and they would be bankrupt in the business world by now.

"But because Government has taxpayers' money to fund them, they get sucked into bottomless pit syndrome. Thank God our international business is not run that way.

"We have seen tourism-related businesses closing down, merging, feeling the pinch, surviving from year to year. I hate to see this industry slide and I will not stand idly by while it continues to happen."