future strategy for the tourist business as latest figures revealed a huge fall in the number of passengers arriving by air.

Led by Dr. Donald Hawkins, of the George Washington University International Institute of Tourism Studies and Mrs. Barbara O'Shaughnessy, of Bermuda College, delegates met for a workshop to examine current problems and opportunities in tourism.

The aim of the meeting at the College was to define how important the tourism industry is, how much it contributes towards the Island's quality of life and to look at new ideas to help develop the industry.

It also aimed to see if a new organisation could be launched to put ideas into practice, monitor their success and ensure they are continuously improved.

The Tourism Awareness Forum Steering Committee will help in developing any plans which emerge from the workshop or from future meetings organised after the event.

Yesterday's meeting was held as the latest figures on the number of people arriving by air were released, showing another drop.

From May 29 to June 4, 10,404 people arrived by air, a fall of 3.6 per cent compared to the same time last year. If the number of people arriving by cruise ship are taken into account, the numbers visiting the Island were up by 4.5 per cent to 16,232 for the same period.

However, a far gloomier picture is painted by figures from January 1 to June 4 this year, which show air arrivals falling more than six percent to 145,300 compared with the same period in 1994.

Overall, the number of people visiting the Island from January 1 to June 4 this year by air or cruise ship also fell, by 3.4 per cent to 186,801 compared to the same time last year.

Yesterday, representatives from the Department of Tourism, education, hoteliers and retailers met at the college for the workshop which will be the first of several meetings.

Mrs. O'Shaughnessy, who helped organise the event, said it had not been looking at developing new attractions on the Island but that ideas had centred on improving the quality of a visit for a tourist, making it "hassle-free'' and more welcoming.

"We were looking at how important appreciation and awareness of the visitor are. There was a feeling there had been an erosion of the resident's appreciation of the visitor. We were looking for answers and where we can go from here,'' she said.

Mrs. O'Shaughnessy said they would now work towards producing an action plan and decide which organisations would be responsible for putting it into practice.

The work, she added which was a continuation of a report by the Commission on Competitiveness.

"We need to have something up-and-running sooner rather than later. We need to be asking what can we put into place to make a visit a quality experience for the tourist.''