selling vacations direct to the North American market.

One local agent, Meyer, discovered by chance that there was an untapped revenue source in overseas residents looking for an Island vacation -- and now businesses are on board.

Through their Foreign Escapes website, Meyer have now sold hundreds of holidays to Bermuda, and breaks in other parts of the world to non-residents.

The breakthrough came when people visiting a website which gave information about Island attractions, started to bombard the company with e-mail requests.

And many of the callers, after receiving the information they wanted, then asked if the company could book a vacation for them. At the time Meyer could not offer complete holidays, but soon caught on and began putting packages together.

Carl Paiva, executive vice president of Meyer, said the website managers were inundated with requests, some of which were for more details and others for actual holidays.

"They were fielding 100 e-mails a day and when people were interested in booking, the message came over to us,'' he said.

"We started putting complete packages together, airfare, hotel and transfers, the customer was very, very pleased. We have done several over Christmas.'' Meyer now have a collection of local hotels they deal with and other agencies have also taken up the idea.

Tourism director Gary Phillips said the initiative was purely customer-driven and provided an example of how tourist businesses could respond to changing demands of the market.

The agents are also working with Bermuda's traditional wholesalers, and Mr.

Phillips said any scheme which brought more visitors to the Island was positive.

"Any opportunity that exists to sell Bermuda has got to be welcomed by us,'' he said. "And any system that makes the customer feel comfortable, gives easier access or is more reliable is nothing but excellent for tourism.'' In addition to selling Bermuda vacations, Meyer have also sold a number of other holidays to overseas customers, including trips such as New York to Switzerland. At present they are re-inventing their website to tailor to that market.

Tourism assistant director, marketing, Cherrie Whitter said Island agents were in a prime position to cash in on overseas inquiries.

In addition, she said they were also able to work with wholesalers and sell other destinations.

The branching out is one example how travel agents are diversifying in order to compete in a rapidly-changing market.

"No travel agent can exist as an order taker, you have to be a professional travel consultant,'' said Mr. Paiva.

Travel savers clubs are another example, where customers pay a yearly fee in return for discounts on services such as airfares, hotels and car rentals.

Consumers get deals on travel and the agents get customer loyalty.