A delegation led by the Premier picked up valuable information at the tenth annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The group also included Minister of Environment and Sports Elvin James, Sustainable Development Roundtable Chairman Arthur Hodgson and Tourism Board chairman E. Michael Jones.

Mr. Jones said: "The range and diversity of the conference is rewarding. I had 15 pages of notes at the halfway point. The opportunity to network and share the worldwide collection of relevant data from destinations similar to ours is useful and, more importantly, it is current."

Dr. Brown, who is also Minister of Tourism and Transport said: "I think we had all the right people in place to ensure the sustainability interests of Bermuda are well covered. The Environment Minister is here to cover our environmental strategy, The Sustainable Development Roundtable chairman is here to take back new strategies to his group and the Tourism Board chairman and I are here to better understand how we grow our tourism product prudently. This was an important event for us at an important time."

The Bermuda delegation participated in a wide range of sessions and workshops during the conference which ran from April 28 to May 1. These ranged from protecting coastal tourism to managing marine resources and securing tourism investment.

Mr. James said: "Every country is trying to get more tourists, but each of us has to learn how to minimise the impact on the environment. This week we made a lot of progress on balancing the ecology and the economy of our respective countries."