under-the-gun efforts to streamline and reduce the cost of a Bermuda vacation.

Their work, which is considered critical to improving the performance of the Island's tourism industry, aims to boost winter business that without improvement threatens long-standing airline connections.

Mr. Paul Leseur, a hotelier and deputy chairman of the Tourist Board, has taken overall charge of the work through chairmanship of the November-March committee.

The committee was formed following a meeting with American Airlines last winter in which the airline indicated it could no longer absorb off-season losses and continue serving the Island during those months.

The message rang alarm bells in the corridors of Government and the merchant community. American flies more visitors to the Island from its hubs in New York City and Boston than any other airline.

The message also came at a time when the Island was experiencing greater than normal cuts in winter airline service together with sudden demise of Pan Am, once the largest carrier to Bermuda.

The major hurdle for the November-March committee is to bring together the disparate elements of the visitor vacation into a lower-cost, all-inclusive package. The package could include airfare and hotel rates, vouchers for public and taxi transportation, restaurants and nightclubs, tour boats and retail stores.

The aim is to offer a lower cost, no-surprises vacation without compromising the Island's image with the appearance of across-the-board discounting.

"We're trying to get everybody to see if they can get come down (in pricing),'' Mr. Leseur said.

The objective for a lower-cost vacation stems in part from Tourism departure surveys showing increasing visitor resistance to local prices.

Tourism Director Mr. Gary Phillips said: "While we have a high percentage of people saying they are satisfied with a Bermuda vacation, there has been an increase in negative comments about Bermuda.

"Those comments in the main relate to the costliness of their Bermuda experience.'' Mr. Phillips said visitors, beyond the overall price of a Bermuda vacation, in particular mentioned the cost of transportation, restaurants and hotel room rates.

"It's fine to say we're an environment of friendly people, lovely beaches, safety and comfort -- there is a price tag to that. But we're operating in an extremely competitive environment today and if we can't address some of these cost aspects I think we're in danger of losing our competitiveness.'' To bring together players in the tourism industry, subcommittees have been formed on hotels, transportation, restaurants and nightclubs and retailers.

Last week, representatives from Tourism's New York advertiser DDB-Needham met to review overall progress with committee heads.

The goal is to have marketing packages ready for mid-May, giving the Island enough time to advertise for November to March bookings.

"We're trying to get it into the market no later than July,'' Mr. Leseur said. So far, no overall theme has been established nor agreement on how much the "value-added'' packages will contain.

Mr. Leseur indicated that they may be geared to three categories of hotels: large, medium and small.

Value-added ingredients may include passes for travel on busses and even taxis, vouchers for restaurants, nightclubs, boat tours and golf. There is a possibility for creation of a dine-around plan.

Dr. Grant Gibbons, a member of the Chamber of Commerce executive who chairs one of the subcommittees, said American Airline's message and the persistence of the recession was enough to motivate the business community to do something.

"American Airlines was the catalyst,'' he said. "In order to keep flying, they need more business to generate more volume. We're rising to the challenge.

"It's at the right time at the right place. The recession has focussed minds.

Two years ago there wouldn't have been this kind of reaction. Ideas are now coming forward. People understand the importance of this.'' Before final approval on visitor packages, Tourism plans to conduct focus groups to determine consumer receptivity to them.