THE Department of Tourism has come under fire again for using deceptive advertising, this time from Spicelands Riding Centre owner and manager Judy Baum.

The Department has recently come under intense scrutiny for including stock photos of Hawaii and the Seychelles in print ads promoting Bermuda.

Now Mrs. Baum is disconcerted by the Department's recent television commercial campaign, broadcast on overseas cable networks, showing horses cantering through shallow waters.

While the Government was glad to promote these carefree horseback excursions along Bermuda's sandy shores, Mrs. Baum has been repeatedly banned from using public beaches for Spicelands' popular and lucrative trail rides.

"It upsets me; if they're going to use false advertisement, it's not fair to us," she said. "They want to invite people to Bermuda with that beautiful footage of horses running through the water, and then they turn around and tell me I can't do it.

"I'm asking constantly. We just want to use one little section of Warwick Long Bay."

Mrs. Baum is currently restricted to the use of the railway trails and the sand dunes of the South Shore beaches for trail rides, but plans to continue lobbying the Department of Tourism for the use of a small slice of Warwick Long Bay.

She added: "If they're telling us we can't go on the beach all summer, then telling tourists they can, it's totally inappropriate."

Riding high - see Business People on page 9