to the Island during the off season -- otherwise, he warns, many retailers will be forced out of business. News Editor Henry Adderley reports A local retailer is calling on Government to use part of its massive tourism budget to offer significant incentives which would attract visitors to the Island between November and April.

Otherwise, according to Daina Limited's John Casling, the Island's retail industry would go under and Front Street store windows would be awash with brown paper as shops were forced to close.

"Unless this downward trend in tourism stops, and there is no indication that it will do, there will not be enough numbers to support the retail industry,'' he warned.

Pointing to Government's $36 million tourism budget for 2000/2001, Mr. Casling noted: "The majority of the money is going to the areas where the bulk of our visitors are coming from yet every single one of those markets is down.

Something has got to change.'' He suggested Government focus its efforts on boosting visitors between November and March as there was no way to expand tourism between May and August because of the limited hotel beds available.

Mr. Casling said: "Historically May to August show good occupancies and then it is dead for the rest of the year. We need to give people an incentive to come here in the winter months.

"The only way to enhance the arrival figures is if we start giving incentives that will attract people from November 1 to April 1 and we have $36 million to play with.

"Why don't they do something that will fill up the four remaining major hotels during this off season period like offering free tickets or low fares to people with bona fide hotel reservations?'' he asked.

Mr. Casling, who has been supportive of the idea of introducing a casino in Bermuda, added: "Government has been emphatic that it will not allow gambling. If that is their approach then so be it but they need to come up with something which will make a difference.

"Take $12 million out of the budget and do a deal with the airlines in the off season and either arrange a seat sale with a ridiculously low fare to Bermuda or let people with, say, a minimum of a five day reservation in a local hotel to fly to Bermuda for free from a gateway city,'' he suggested.

"That $12 million will generate about 40,000 people coming to Bermuda who will then spend about $200 a day on the Island for an average of five nights and this will generate about $40 million in the off season.

"Ask anyone in the business if this idea will fly and they will tell you that if you are offering to fly someone to a premier destination for free if they stay five nights that the planes will be full.'' The boost in air arrivals would allow tourism-related businesses to benefit along with the hotels, Mr. Casling pointed out.

"Instead of dropping, our arrival figures will go up. It will allow all the businesses connected to tourism to enjoy some kind of income during what has historically become not an off season but a dead season,'' he said.

Casling concerned over retail's future Mr. Casling stressed that if the arrival and visitor bed night numbers continued "to go south'', retail operations would start closing down, following the 47 visitor accommodations which have shut their doors during the past 20 years while tourism declined.

"We are all hanging on by our fingernails,'' he said. "You don't need to be an economist to figure that out. You will not be able to support the local retail industry if the numbers keep going south like this.

"My genuine concern is that if this keeps going as it has been going and if there is no revival of tourism because no one comes up with a radical approach to keep things alive then on Front Street you will see a lot of brown paper.

"There has to come a day in anyone's history where something has to change.

The retail industry is looking for something to stop the decline. It is time to say that what we have done traditionally does not work and that we have thrown $36 million at nothing,'' he said.

"What is really interesting is that the grand total of visitors by air to Bermuda at the end of October was 293,000. If you take out the people who stayed in private homes (56,000) and take away about 75,000 to 100,000 people who come here for international business then you are left with only about 137,000 resort visitors.

"Government's budget for tourism is $36 million which means it is spending $262 to get one resort visitor. No advertising or marketing dollars are needed to get the people who stay in family homes and no money is spent attracting people to visit ACE or XL.

"Something is drastically wrong,'' he said. "We are not affording the US traveller what he or she wants anymore. At the end of the day we have to start addressing their needs.'' Mr. Casling underlined that he was not attacking either the old UBP or new PLP Governments.

"The parties have been doing things in the traditional manner for the past 20 years and it has not worked. I am not throwing stones at anyone,'' he said.

"The demise of tourism has not happened on the PLP's watch. It happened way before then. But Government is doing the same thing that has historically been done and has not worked.'' "We are all hanging on by our fingernails,'' he said. "You don't need to be an economist to figure that out. You will not be able to support the local retail industry if the numbers keep going south like this. There has to come a day in anyone's history where something has to change. The retail industry is looking for something to stop the decline. It is time to say that what we have done traditionally does not work and that we have thrown $36 million at nothing.'' -- John Casling.