BERMUDA'S tourism industry is in long-term decline. It has long since lost its role as the main pillar of the island's economy to the international business sector.

A succession of Ministers of Tourism have tried to reverse the downward trend. The incumbent Dr. Ewart Brown has succeeded in bringing more flights from more cities to the island, but still the air arrivals continue to fall.

This month, the United Bermuda Party appointed Senator Kim Swan as Shadow Tourism Minister, a new voice to freshen up the debate on how to rejuvenate flagging tourism. Sen. Swan believes the first thing that can be done is to take leadership of the industry out of the hands of Government and to put business people in charge.

In an interview spelling out his ideas, he recalled his own introduction into tourism as a teenager, looking after the locker room at the old Belmont Hotel, cleaning shoes and golf clubs. He spoke of how his mentors at the hotel practised high-quality service with a remarkable attention to detail and how he believes tourism today needs a return to those standards.

The need for an independent tourism authority is a central plank of Sen. Swan's plan. The new generation of bigger cruise ships, the role of golf in tourism and how to make the most of advertising were other topics the Opposition Senate Leader touched upon.

HEN it comes to a philosophy for attracting more visitors to Bermuda, new Shadow Tourism Minister Kim Swan adopts the motto of the movie ? build it and they will come.

"The most important thing for Bermuda tourism is for us to get the product right and rebuild from the bottom up," Senator Swan said.

"And the way to start doing that is for the Government to get out of tourism's way and allow the people who are actually stake-holders in tourism to run the industry.

"I'm talking about hoteliers, tour boat operators, taxi drivers, shop owners ? these are business people. The kind of mind-set needed for running business is different from the mind-set needed for government.

"Business people are motivated by profit, while this Government is motivated by survival. Ministers are thinking about not treading on anybody's toes and thinking short term, but we need some long-term planning for tourism right now."

Sen. Swan's passionate argument for an independent tourism authority is backed by some in the industry. His belief is that people directly involved in the industry are better qualified to spend public money allocated to tourism than politicians or civil servants. And he uses the evidence of recent years to back up his case.

"It's time to stop and think when we're spending $35 million a year on getting fewer visitors," Sen. Swan said. "We can't keep on doing that.

"Those who work with tourists every day appreciate better what the tourist is looking for. When we talk about the tourism product, it is an experience we are trying to sell.

"I would say that we'd do better if 75 per cent of that $35 million was administrated by a group from the private sector.

"We've had seven people in charge in six years ? three Ministers and four directors of tourism. Any business person would tell that have that many changes at the top would not be good for business.

"The fish has rotted from the head first. The definition of insanity is to keep doing things the same way and expect a different result.

"How long is it going to take this Government to smell the coffee and get out of their own way? It's not about one or two people in Government, it's about an industry's survival being put in the hands of its stake-holders.

"It's high time that more people in the industry woke up and started calling for it. From what I've seen, too many people in tourism are playing 'kiss-up' with Government. You hear people say, 'I can't say that, I need this work permit'.

"Those days are gone. The survival of this industry is too critical for pussy-footing around. Business people need to be forthright in demanding their industry back."

The island's competitors, who in days gone by had sent representatives here to look at how Bermuda was attracting visitors, were now getting ahead by putting their tourism authorities in the hands of the private sector, he added, and he cited the example of oil-rich Dubai.

Sen. Swan's tourism background goes back to when he started working for the Belmont Hotel at the age of 16, first in the locker room and then in the dining room.

There he learned how staff were prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that guests enjoyed their holidays.

"I remember working with Clevie Dillas who was the captain at the Belmont. Every day at 5.30 p.m., he would go to the gift shop and buy a copy of the ," Sen. Swan said.

"I asked him why he was spending so much money on buying that newspaper every day. He told me that when he saw guests in the dining room, he could chat with them and let them know what was going on at home and sports scores they were interested in. He could be their source of information.

"We had a waitress known as 'Aunt Marion' who could memorise orders from several different tables, without writing anything down, and she would never get anything wrong.

"That was the calibre of person we had in the industry at that time. That kind of service makes a difference to the experience of visitors and makes them more likely to be repeat visitors. Because of the calibre of people that were working in the industry in the '60s and '70s, people would come back and request the same room, the same chamber maids, the same waitresses.

"What we were doing then was effectively romancing the visitor. We have to remember we are selling an experience and get back to those kinds of standards."

had an ideal facility for teaching those skills to Bermudians with the past affiliation between the old Stonington Hotel (now the Coco Reef Resort) and the Bermuda College. He suggested that if Government had been serious about offering tourism training for young Bermudians, "they wouldn't have sold Stonington to John Jefferis for a song and a dance".

Guest workers fill many posts in the tourism industry and Sen. Swan said the industry could work harder to attract locals.

"We need to encourage people to get into what can be an exciting industry at a young age and show them the opportunities available," he said.

"Our hotels with international connections can help by offering Bermudians postings overseas as part of their job development.

"Apart from that, it's a great job for learning about life. That's the beauty of working in tourism ? you're dealing with people. Not everyone is cut out for dealing with people and dealing with their problems and requests, but we need to find the people who are."

As well as four years' experience with the Castle Harbour Hotel in the early 1980s, Sen. Swan also played professional golf on the European Tour. He believes golf could be a key to attracting more people to our shores, but an upgrade of our venues was sorely needed.

He pointed out that Government had spent thousands of dollars on commissioning a report on the island's golf-tourism product by US consultants International Management Group (IMG) and had then ignored the report's recommendations.

"IMG said the Government golf courses needed to be upgraded and that we should site a new signature golf course at Morgan's Point (the former US Naval Annex in Southampton)," Sen. Swan said.

"The United Bermuda Party had got together the workings of a plan to turn it into a tourism area including a golf course. Six years after the Progressive Labour Party came to power, there has been no development, no clean-up. What's taking so long?"

Golfers would pay high rates if they were getting a top-class experience, he added, but investment in the Government courses at St. George's, Port Royal and Ocean View was needed for the island to capitalise on its prime natural environment with courses to match.

With the decline in air arrivals, the cruise ships have become increasingly important to Bermuda tourism. Ships now being built are generally much bigger than the ones currently visiting the island and channels would need to be widened for the new generation of ships to be able to visit Hamilton and St. George's.

These ships are capable of carrying 2,500 passengers and Sen. Swan said the island would have to weigh up carefully how many of the huge vessels it could accommodate.

"One of the attractive things about Bermuda is its charm," Sen. Swan said. "We would not want to jeopardise that and overstretch our infrastructure. We have to remember the impact the influx of a few thousand extra people can have on our small community.

"Obviously we need the visitors though. It's clear that visitors who stay in hotels spend much more than cruise ship visitors. But the cruise ships have become more important to us because there are less people staying in the hotels.

"It's a delicate balance and it's for the stake-holders in tourism to set out their plans for achieving that balance."

could play a role in the planning process by providing more information in the way of statistics on visitors, Sen. Swan said. Bermuda had become a more sophisticated destination, in that the reasons people visited were now more complex than they used to be, he added.

"With the growth of the international business sector, we have many more business visitors to cater for," Sen. Swan said. "And there are more people than ever visiting friends and relatives here and staying in private homes.

"This is where Government could help tourism by producing information that the industry could use. But this Government has not been forthcoming with statistics. When the statistics don't come out the way they want them to, they are reluctant to publish them."

Just because some of those business visitors had high salaries and generous corporate expense accounts did not mean that Bermuda businesses wouldn't have to try hard to persuade them to spend, Sen Swan said.

"There is a myth out there that people of means and money are not discerning," he said. "But the fact is that they are not going to throw their money away. We have to give them a reason to spend their money."

Advertising was important, but it needed to be more effectively targeted, Sen. Swan said, and even more critical was the forging of links between Bermuda and communites with which we had air connections.

"The first thing is to get the product right," said the Senator. "There is no point advertising a certain type of experience that we want visitors to Bermuda to have, unless we have the product to back it up.

"We have more flights coming here from more destinations, and those services are getting the support from the Bermuda end. But when you put the service in place you have to give the people you are after at the other end a reason to use it.

"For example, Chicago should be a great target place for us and we need to cultivate connections there."

Advertising could be better directed by gaining more information on visitors ? where they came from, what they spent money on, what demographic they belonged to ? and Government should be working to provide that information.

Sen. Swan was delighted with his new shadow portfolio.

"It's a great opportunity to focus on a key component of Bermuda and to work towards the betterment of an area I've been exposed to for much of my working life," he said. "We need to plan and this Government has not been about planning ? that is why I'm pushing for a tourism authority."