Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell laid out a five-point plan to rescue tourism in the House of Assembly on Friday.

Responding to Government's Throne Speech, Mr. Dodwell said Government's efforts to keep the tourism industry alive in the face of the September 11 terrorist attacks were a reflection of their continuing "over-promising and under-developing".

"All indicators are down and I do think it points to the level of uncertainty that exists out in the industry right now," he said.

His five-point plan was firstly to write a crisis plan, establishing a way to recover from a tourism disaster such as the terrorist attack, he said.

"It's clearly a crisis in regard to tourism. We need to tell people we're in a crisis," he said.

He challenged Government to produce a plan of action, after Government allegedly told the Opposition that they had something in place but were unwilling to reveal it.

Secondly, Mr. Dodwell called for an air service strategy, to encourage new services while maintaining close links with current airlines.

He emphasised that Bermuda could use the September 11 attacks as a "catalyst" to change tourism by offering "safety and proximity" to attract US visitors.

"We've lost track of the eastern seaboard," said Mr. Dodwell, "We need to get into the consumer's hearts and minds, and to be frank, into their wallets.

"We should be over-communicating with the airlines, getting in their face. We were told it was being done by letters. We should go in their face to pursue new service and shore up old ones," he said.

Thirdly, he said Bermuda needs to develop the "product" and "deliver a development attitude plan".

He said that only 52 percent of visitors leaving the Island said they received value for their money.

"That's the lowest number in history - that is a sad reflection of where we're going,'' he said.

`'The most painful thing we have to do, as a country, is look into ourselves and this incoming government, a UBP government, is willing to do that," he added.

Mr. Dodwell said a group of marketers from Hawaii came to Bermuda in the mid-1960's and successful applied what they learned about attitude development.

In addition, he slammed Tourism Minister David Allen's fly-cruise-stay plan, as his fourth recovery point.

""We would abandon the fly-cruise-stay plan, it just hasn't worked. I think the arrivals were 400 to 500. What happened to the projected 25,000 arrivals?" he asked Mr. Allen.

Lastly, Mr. Dodwell called for the formation of a Bermuda Tourism Authority, a non-government agency to be run jointly with private sector.

"We can use the September 11 attack as a catalyst to reface tourism because we have no choice. We've no choice but to make tourism work if we are to protect our people. The next Government can and will do it," he said.