THE United Bermuda Party (UBP) is not giving up on the idea of a Tourism Authority and plans to have such a privatised quango operational within six months should it win the next General Election.Following the scandal involving Government’s faith-based tourism initiative, the UBP this week said it was important that decisions concerning tourism are no longer based on the politics of the day but on what is right for the industry.

Opposition Senator Bob Richards (pictured)<$f"FranklinGothic-DemiCond"><\p>has gone so far as to say the only reason Bermuda does not have a Tourism Authority already is because “certain politicians are using tourism as a soapbox to promote themselves”.

Sen. Richards told the Mid-Ocean News <$>yesterday that the Government needed to be a partner in tourism — not the boss — and that claims the long- ailing industry was on the upswing were largely hype.

“A Tourism Authority would remove a lot of the political shenanigans which are attached with anything to do with tourism,” he said.

“Then when we get reports on the performance of the industry, we won’t have to try and unearth the real numbers because no one will be having an axe to grind.”

He said of the total number of visitors who came to Bermuda last year, only some 92,000 were genuine first-time tourists.

Dividing the $40-million tourism budget by this figure meant the Government was spending about $433 on luring each new tourist to the island’s shores.

This number excludes people visiting friends and family in Bermuda, business travellers and repeat travellers.

Last year, Government overspent more than $400,000 on Tourism Department initiatives aimed at boosting the island’s golf and spa season.

Then there was the $1.5-million loss suffered after a bid to introduce flights from Munich to Bermuda failed earlier this year.

“A tremendous amount of money is being spent on spin doctoring . As to what great things are happening in tourism, there is still an issue of how much bang we’re getting for our buck, and the globetrotting that is involved. When we become Government, we will be taking a very different approach,” Sen. Richards said.

He felt that a Tourism Authority would allow the industry to be more involved in promoting Bermuda tourism, as opposed to the Government.

“Government needs to be less involved. The industry is closer to the action and they have a lot to lose, which makes them more focused on the situation. We need those folks who have the most invested in the industry to have a much greater say in the shape of things and how it is promoted and tell the Government want needs to be done, instead of the Government telling them what needs to be done.”Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell said legislation for a Tourism Authority was prepared when he was Minister but cast aside after the PLP came to power in 1998.

He said this legislation was modelled on British Columbia’s Tourism Authority and even though implementing it meant he would have been without a Cabinet portfolio, he felt, and still does, that it was the right thing to do.

“I think the Ministers of Tourism should withstand changes of Government and changes of Ministers.

“Every time you change your Government you can’t agree with anything the former one did. And sometimes members of the same Government can’t agree with one another.

“We’ve seen this every time the PLP puts a new Tourism Minister in place. We’ve had four Ministers in nine years and each one has done something different.

“There is no consistency. You can’t rely on what is being put in place today because if the Minister goes tomorrow then you are in trouble.”

Mr. Dodwell said each new Minister insisted on changing ads, promotional campaigns and even tag lines such as the current one, “Feel the Love” — all at a great cost.

“The power of a Tourism Minister can make you giddy. You have all this money to spend and you don’t really have to be accountable for it because it goes off into marketing and advertising and the results are hard to measure.

“If you put a Tourism Authority in place, it withstands time.You put in qualified people from the broader hospitality industry including golf, finance and the restaurants and create a board and hire people to run it. It would be a private sector entity, responsible to a board of directors.”

He added that certain aspects, including hotel and cruise ship licensing — anything that needed completely impartiality — would still be done by the Ministry, while any decisions that needed to be made quickly could be done by the Tourism Authority.

“The private sector allows you to be much more flexible, turn on a dime, make instant decisions without having to go through other departments in Government and then on to Cabinet,” he added.

“The biggest thing is that you remove the politics from tourism. I’m sorry, but there is far too much of that going on. Look at faith-based tourism. That’s a classic example.

“No answers from the Premier and (organiser) Andre Curtis being given a sum of money.

“All this stuff that a Minister gets himself involved in you would remove. Take the politics out. That’s our through-line.”

UBP ‘will privatise tourism if elected’