Bermudians are on tourism. Very often Bermudians who are not directly working in tourism fail to see how the visitor's dollar gets into their pocket. When it is not clear that every single one of us is paid by the visitor's dollar, then there is a tendency not to respect tourism and not to care for Bermuda's visitors.

For far too long Bermudians have taken visitors for granted. We have assumed that they will continue to come here and spend their money no matter what we charge them and no matter how badly we treat them. That is not true. There are many places where people can holiday today where they will be better received and charged less.

Mrs. Wendy Davis Johnson, the Executive Director of the Bermuda International Business Association (BIBA), said last week that if Bermudians do not understand how much the international business industry relies on tourism in order to succeed, then neither international business nor tourism will flourish.

"Because, in the final analysis, Bermudians will make or break the competitive future of these two sister industries.'' The good news for Bermuda is that there are plans for local awareness programmes for both tourism and international business.

The two industries by which Bermudians live so well are mutually dependent these days and each and every Bermudian is directly affected by the success of both of them.

Both industries are deeply influenced by the attitude of Bermudians toward people. Just as visitors need to be welcome and comfortable in Bermuda so do those people coming here to manage and work for international businesses. If Bermudians fail to understand the contribution that visitors and international company residents make to every paypacket, then Bermuda has a real problem.

There are plenty of countries which extend a warm welcome and, in recent years, Bermuda has tended to become very technical, cold and even abusive toward resident guests.

Bermuda would probably always have some visitors and some international company business no matter how we treat them. However, the truth is that we enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world and that requires that both tourism and international business be a big success. They will not be a big success unless Bermudians work to keep them here.

Bermuda starts with two strikes against it. Firstly, air fares to get here are expensive for any number of complex reasons. Secondly, living here and the costs of visiting here are high because of our own high living and because of the high cost of importing everything.

We do offer a beautiful island but these days that beauty is no longer so well preserved as it once was. Traffic is destructive of tourism, signs are a problem, many architects don't care, even people in senior positions desecrate the country. What we can offer and do not, today, always offer is a warm and friendly welcome and good and courteous treatment.