A top business conference which brings in tens of thousands of dollars to the Island will not be held in Bermuda for the first time since it was conceived.

The sixth annual International Captives Congress (ICAP) will be held for the first time in Palm Beach, Florida, in June after complaints from delegates that it was always held in Bermuda.

It is the second large conference to be cancelled in Bermuda after eCC, a local e-commerce conference, cancelled its event in March citing lack of interest.

The ICAP conference, which is normally held in the Southampton Princess in early summer, brings in hundreds of insurance experts and their spouses for a week.

But yesterday organisers, IBC USA Conferences, announced the change of venue to on-shore in the United States.

The 2002 event will be the first year that ICAP will not be held in Bermuda since it was launched six years ago and will be a blow to the struggling tourism industry.

Former chairman of the Bermuda International Business Association, Raymond Medeiros, said the decision was news to him, but added that in the overall scheme of things it was not that big a deal.

"Obviously we like to think we can get as high a number of conferences in Bermuda as possible, but we also recognise that IBC is a business and they do what they have to do to satisfy their clients," Mr. Medeiros said.

Bermuda is the largest captive centre in the world and was seen as the ideal location for the event in the past.

Last year Premier Jennifer Smith opened the conference and many local captive executives have assisted in the organisation and supported the event over the years. Organisers did add that they plan to return to the Island for the 2003 conference.

"After hours of discussion with the industry we decided to host the ICAP 2002 event on-shore in Florida," said Ann McGrath, director of new products and events at IBC.

"Delegates have continually asked why ICAP is always held in Bermuda and why we don't consider rotating the event every second year between Bermuda and the USA.

"As IBC has a reputation for producing conferences to meet the needs of the market, we decided to hold ICAP 2002 in Florida."

Ms McGrath added that over the years IBC had developed a very close working relationship with "BIMA, BIBA and BIA and numerous Bermudian-based companies who have been instrumental to the ICAP conference".

She added: "Even though ICAP 2002 will be held in Florida we plan to continue our close working relationship with our Bermudian colleagues and look forward to returning to the Island in 2003."

For more information see www.ibcusa.com/icap.