department and the Bank of Bermuda have been quietly working with an outside agency since August to whip Bermuda's tourism industry back into shape.

Preliminary discussions have been on-going with the Boston-based Monitor Company on creating a taskforce of Bermudians who will work with the agency to reinvigorate the Island's tourism industry.

Government was introduced to Monitor by senior officers of the Bank of Bermuda, who also proposed a joint private and public sector approach be adopted.

"The bank acted as a catalyst,'' Charles Vaughan-Johnson told The Royal Gazette . "We all spend a lot of time telling each other what we're doing wrong and this is an opportunity to see what we can do that's right.'' Mr. Vaughan-Johnson said the Monitor group has a reputation for excellence and for seeing its projects through to the end: "They've got a good track record. They've been advising Ireland on their tourism industry and I've talked with people there who are extremely happy with the results,'' he said.

The benefit of bringing in an outside agency is they will more objective, more familiar with the competition and larger trends in the global tourism industry, added Mr. Vaughan-Johnson.

And he said, recent comments to bank shareholders by Chairman Eldon Trimingham indicate the industry-Government approach was already "a concept we had in mind.'' "This is not a study, not a report or another commission. It's a how to, an action plan that's evaluating our whole programme,'' said Minister Dodwell.

Monitor will act as facilitator and will provide a framework on how Bermudians can right their number-one industry. The process will involve stakeholders from all sectors of tourism, though Mr. Dodwell refused to name who was currently involved in the process.

"Inclusion is going to be a difficulty,'' he admitted.

News of the initiative follows hard on the heels of a full-page broadside delivered by a group of retailers calling themselves the Coalition for Change and fronted by retailer John Casling.

The Coalition lumped Bermuda in with Haiti and Surname as one of three destinations that has consistently in the last 15 years lost ground in the Caribbean-area tourism market.

They charge Government has poorly marketed and mismanaged its tourism industry and call for major changes, including bringing in outside help, new policies governing cruise ships, casinos, and easing restrictions on outdoor cafes.

Mr. Dodwell yesterday defended his department, pointing to the Visitor Industry Partnership (VIP), Jazzscape, the Freeman Group's new hotel service plan, and marketing alliances with airlines and dive magazines which have recently boosted the Island's profile throughout North America.

"We have a ways to go, but people must realise we've literally got to reinvent our product,'' he said, picking up on a key theme from the report of the Commission on Competitiveness.

"People talk about marketing; well it's not all marketing. It's about receptivity. It's about how do we get winter tourism up when people don't want to rent scooters -- it's about how we change ourselves so we can better move visitors around the Island,'' he said.

The Coalition for Change's John Casling said bringing in an outside group was definitely good news but wondered why people were only hearing about it now.

"We're constantly in a state of review. Let's make some decisions and get on with it.

"There's no use having commissions on competitiveness and bringing in outside consultants if we're never going to implement their recommendations,'' he said.

The decision to bring in outside help however meets one of the key demands of the Coalition, he agreed.

Bermudians are too close to the problem to see it objectively, said Mr.

Casling.