Bermuda should promote its unique cultural assets to Americans who have developed a new-found interest in other countries since September 11, the keynote speaker at yesterday's National Tourism Conference said.

National Geographic Traveler editor in chief Keith Bellows said tourists in general are increasingly looking for something different.

He cautioned against trying crude discounting to win more tourists and instead suggested value-added elements to holidays.

"Before too long, Americans will be getting tired of looking at their own backyard. Americans have pursued an American-centric outlook to their peril," he said.

"They can't be ignorant of other cultures. You should play on Americans' new-found curiosity about the world. You have a unique culture and they are interested in that," he delegates at the Fairmont Southampton Princess.

He said the globalisation of American culture had drastically reduced unique experiences - with McDonald's restaurants to be found almost everywhere around the world.

"From the presentation (of Gombeys and 500 years of Bermudian history at the beginning of the conference) I could see some real authenticity in Bermuda, and that's hard to find and hard to hold onto," said Mr. Bellows.

He said 88 percent of travellers now want to experience culture while on vacation, and that travel was becoming increased personalised and catered to niches.

His advice for destinations around the world trying to recover after September 11 was to market something comfortable to Americans.

"In Bermuda's case, you want to talk about how close it is to home and the safe harbour and safe haven." He said countries should avoid mentioning September 11 in their press releases because Americans do not want to be continually reminded of the attacks.

Mr. Bellows said destinations should not assume that things will return to normal right away and should look to build for the future.

One of the most important global trends was that people are looking for unique experiences and travel agents which do not cater to this will become "dinosaurs".

And there will be a massive increase in travel from countries outside North America and Europe. Chinese travel overseas increased 10 percent last year.

The real challenge for tourist destinations was how to manage their resources so that they do become overrun by mass tourism.

"The biggest issue now is not where to go, but how to go without destroying the thing we love."