latest effort to revitalise tourism -- came just in time.

Regardless of whether he launched the initiative on Friday to pre-empt the Opposition's attack on his record as Minister or not, he was able to demonstrate that he has been doing something for the last 30 months.

More importantly, he has demonstrated that he is working with Government's partners in tourism, including the Hotel Association, the Bermuda Industrial Union and business groups.

There are some welcome recognitions of facts in the BAT scheme, including the long overdue decision to pursue high end visitors as the main market for the Island and to get out of the mass tourism market.

This in itself marks a change of policy for the Government, which under Mr.

Allen's leadership has tried to promote smaller, cheaper properties from time to time.

Much of the BAT strategy is not a result of new thinking but has been forced on the tourism industry by events. With hotels closing for renovations, the industry has no choice but to spend the next 12 months speeding up development.

By the same token, there is little point in pushing the peak season until more hotel rooms become available in the second and third years of the programme.

Nonetheless, saying and doing are quite different things, and in Friday's tourism debate, Shadow Minister David Dodwell made at least one telling criticism; Mr. Allen's handling of the portfolio has been a roller coaster, with strategies adopted and dropped, reinstated and dropped again. What is not clear is whether BAT has any more chance of sticking than any of the others.

The biggest challenge for tourism is that the high end visitors Bermuda must attract can afford to be picky and by definition have more destinations to choose from. The fact that they have more money does not mean that they do not understand its value; if anything they are acutely aware of when they are being ripped off.

That means that Bermuda has to provide service which is immeasurably superior to other destinations because the wealthy visitor can afford to go to Europe, on safari in Africa or to the Far East, not to mention high end resorts in the Caribbean and Latin America, or even at home in North America.

Bermuda's beauty is rare and delicate, but it is not spectacular. Its culture and history is interesting and unique, but may not compare to the Coliseum or the Pyramids.

Bermuda's beaches are clean and beautiful, but they do not run for miles and miles of empty dunes. And so it goes. Bermuda is another world, but it is not a world which stands out against others for one particular thing.

If Bermuda is going to attract the high end individuals which the BAT programme says it should, it must offer standards of service which are incomparable. Whether it can do that -- and it is not now -- will decide whether it succeeds or not.