TOURISM Minister Ren?e Webb projects that the confidence signalled by investors in Bermuda's tourism product will translate into a doubling of rooms available to Bermuda's visitors over the next three years.

"We have ten properties coming on board. Sonesta is being renovated, Pink Beach, Ariel Sands and Coco Reefs are expanding. We have Tucker's Point starting the hotel in the next couple of months, or so they told me, and they are due to finish in 2006.

"The hotel will take two years to build. Renaissance hasn't been signed off but it's a possibility. We have Lantana that's been approved, and they are starting to build. On the table, we have White Sands looking at the possibility of expanding, and Belmont and Newstead.

"The Cliffs is in its final stages of approval. Club Med hasn't been signed off, but they are talking to their financiers.

"We will double the number of beds in the next three years, once all the hotel projects come on board. We will go from 3,000 bed units, once Fairmont comes back on, to 6,000 once the others come on board.

"Those are the ones that have actually signed, sealed and delivered. What is clear is that people are confident that Bermuda tourism is back, and there is a confidence on the part of the developers who are interested in investing, and the airlines who are putting on more flights.

"There is a 'buzz' in the marketplace abroad in both London and the US, with respect to a new awareness campaign, there is so much happening that they can see.

"The London trip went extremely well, just in the months of January and February, the call centre has gone up between 250 and 300 per cent, which is very good. Awareness was very low in the UK, so I think that people were happy to see that Bermuda was taking a real active role in the marketplace.

"Unfortunately, sometimes people don't see it here. They are always looking for the negative, but I am very optimistic. We are restructuring tourism both internally and externally.

"At every opportunity, I tell the public what we are doing. The Budget response will lay out everything. The one piece we need to work on, and there is still much room for improvement, is entertainment. We are talking to the hotels, and the hotels are looking at ways of improving. People seem to be optimistic because they are investing, both the airlines and the hoteliers, so they must be as confident as I am that visitor arrivals will improve.

"In spite of Hurricane Fabian, the numbers over this year were only down by 0.5 per cent, which is nothing when you think about it, because we lost 12,000 tourists in October as a consequence of Fabian. So, we would have been up, even if only marginally, so I think it shows the signs are all there.

"There is room for growth, and for those that are building, they know that Bermuda is a good product. If you build the correct product, then the visitors will come.'

The Sonesta Hotel was badly damaged by Hurricane Fabian, and is expected to reopen with fewer rooms initially than before the storm, but expansion is expected.

Michael J. Williams of Pink Beach Club confirmed that, as part of its planned development, it expects to add 16 junior suites towards the end of this year. In total, the number of rooms will increase, since the start of the re-development, from 91 to 116.

A spokesman for Ariel Sands described renovations of the pool, beach and terrace areas, and a plan to build condominiums, but could not comment on any planned expansion of hotel rooms.

A spokesman for Coco Reef Bermuda, the former Stonington Hotel, said that the hotel was expected to open on May 1, with the same number of rooms as before.

Peter Parker of Bermuda Properties Ltd., developer of Tucker's Point, would not comment on any projected start date for construction of the hotel phase of the project. The Lantana is projected to be a 40-unit hotel and luxury Spa. The Belmont property will consist of town houses and condominiums, but the developers hope to demolish the present 50-room Newstead hotel building and build a 100-room replacement.

David Johanson, a partner in the proposed Cliffs development on South Shore in Warwick, said that he expected approval to be imminent, that they expected to break ground "in the fall of this year", and to finish in spring 2007. They expected to target upscale visitors for their 101-bed "ultra luxury" property.

A spokesman for The Reefs expected that the hotel might add an additional 20 units within two years, having acquired the adjacent property, and had indicated to the Ministry of Tourism a desire to expand, and that an application would be forthcoming.