Tourism and the real estate market in Bermuda should reap the benefits of the modern development practice of shared ownership, experts told a property forum last night.

The Island has struggled to keep pace with the rest of the world in terms of tourism, Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell said at the event organised by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

However, Mr. Dodwell said more state-of-the-art hotels could soon be built ? attracting thousands more visitors every year ? if potential investors take advantage of trends in property development.

Mr. Dodwell, who owns The Reefs hotel, in Southampton, said investing in top hotels was usually too expensive for individuals.

But he said the global trend towards fractional ownership, in which individual buyers own percentage shares in one business, meant creating a higher quality of hotel was more feasible.

Mr. Dodwell said: ?It?s time Bermuda opened our eyes to what?s happening in the rest of the world around us.

?We are on the cusp of something pretty spectacular, but to a degree we are playing catch-up.

?We took our eye off the ball when it came to tourism. As a result, our industry has declined over the last 25 years.

?They have been years when the industry has made a gross profit, but in terms of investment it?s been a dark period.

?State-of-the-art facilities are being built all over the world. Ten years ago, people were leaving South Africa. Now they can?t wait to get there.

?Bermuda used to be a place where people came to learn how tourism is developed.?

Mr. Dodwell said the industry was increasingly ?capital intensive? and that large investment was required to create the best golf courses and swimming pools.

He said the way to raise cash in order to invest was no longer to visit a bank or insurance company, but to take part in mixed use developments or fractional ownership.

Such methods were common across the rest of the world, he said, but Bermuda was currently three to five years behind.

However, he said the trend could be beneficial if the Island took advantage of it. He said: ?I think the market is a good thing for Bermuda.?

Cris Dapena, director of Property Group Limited, also spoke at the forum of about 30 people at Botanical Gardens.

She said fractional ownership had started to make a significant impact on the real estate market in Bermuda.

Ms Dapena said that for many years potential buyers had to be turned away even though they were willing to invest up to $400,000.

However, she said now such a sum of money could be invested in a fractional ownership scheme.

She said: ?The number of sales we were able to do was laughably small.

?So many people love the Island, but they are not prepared to spent the kind of capital that was required, just so they could spend three or four or six weeks a year in Bermuda. It just doesn?t make sense for them to do that.

?If someone comes into my office now and says they have $400,000, I tell them they can invest (in a fractional ownership).

?Now, we have buyers come to Bermuda for the first time and making purchases.?

Former Premier Sir John Swan, a property developer, who facilitated the forum, said Bermudian businesses should do everything they can to attract wealthy tourists from the US.

He said: ?We have got to find the things that make them come to Bermuda ? and they will come because they feel safe here. I think we have got an exciting new era ahead of us.?