The United Bermuda Party has poured cold water on Government's tourism record, and outlined plans to remove visitor strategy from the political realm if it is elected.

According to deputy leader of the party Patricia Gordon-Pamplin, voters should look beyond the "pop and sizzle" of Friday's presentation by Premier Ewart Brown.

"Not one major overseas hotel developer has broken ground in Bermuda since the PLP came to power. Dr. Brown is fond of talking about hotel companies interested in Bermuda. He cites St. Regis, Ritz Carlton and Jumeirah, but none of these prestigious operators have started any operations in Bermuda. They're just announcements, and have been for quite a few years now," she said.

"Headlines touting a 'record number of visitors' in 2006 are misleading. They are crafted to hide the fact that leisure air arrivals remain at historically low levels.

"They don't mention that the increase in visitor arrivals is the result of big increases in business and family visitors – groups that have nothing to do with the millions of dollars Tourism spends to attract vacationers."

She also said: "Numbers have been used to mislead the public. For more than a year now, the United Bermuda Party has been critical of the numbers game played by Dr. Brown when it comes to his record as minister.

"In November 2006, an unannounced change in the way tourism numbers were calculated led to headlines of massive increases in visitor spending.

"What was not reported at the time was that the Government had decided to include new categories of spending – by cruise ship staff for instance – in their overall calculations. Nothing had materially changed, except the headlines."

She further alleged: "We are spending more money to lure each leisure visitor to our shores than ever before. Tourism's marketing budget is significantly more than the budgets of former United Bermuda Party Governments, yet the number of leisure air arrivals remains flat or down when compared to the 1980s and 1990s. There has been, in other words, a decline in the cost effectiveness of Bermuda tourism marketing.

"We're not taking issue with the fact that Bermuda tourism needs to be revived, and we're sure Dr. Brown has worked hard to do just that. But he exaggerates and spins. It's not necessary. Bermudians want to trust the information he gives them."

Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin said if the UBP gets elected it will "take politics out of the mix" by creating a Tourism Authority to manage product development, marketing and air-service and cruise strategy.

"It will be will be led by hospitality professionals and directed by a board chosen from the hospitality, financial, union and Government sectors. Its primary goal will be to make Bermuda competitive again as a tourism destination," she said.