American advertising venture -- a joint promotional campaign with 31 local properties and travel wholesalers overseas.

The $1 million Bermuda Breaks campaign is designed to promote the Island and help overcome the perception that Bermuda is over-priced. The ads don't claim Bermuda is cheap, Tourism Minister the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge said, and they don't offer discounts. But they point out the wide range of prices available.

Mr. Woolridge said he can't prove it, but he would like to think the upswing in visitor arrivals in the last few weeks is due in part to the new campaign.

One sign that the ads have impact, he said, was the 875 telephone inquiries received by the Department of Tourism's New York office on March 15, the day the campaign was launched with a full-page ad in the Sunday New York Times .

Properties in the "Bermuda Breaks'' ads range from small guest houses to the 600-room Southampton Princess. Prices cover a wide range too, from starting prices of $442.50 per adult at the Southampton Princess to a package offering a three night stay at one housekeeping property for $150 per person.

"What we are trying to do is show that there is accommodation to suit every pocketbook,'' Mr. Woolridge said. "By listing the rates we show that there is a choice.'' Surveys locally and abroad have shown that high cost is one of the major concerns of visitors, would-be visitors and their travel agents. At the same time, Government and the Island's tourism industry is largely geared toward the high income "up market'' visitor capable of spending large amounts of money.

Mr. David Allen, the Shadow Minister for Tourism, said the emphasis on price range is exactly what the Progressive Labour Party has been urging on the Government for several years.

Failure in the past to stress the range of properties "set us up for the big fall when the recession came. ..Certainly we need to emphasise the values of Bermuda more.'' Mr. Allen said he was pleased that the Department of Tourism is now advertising a wider range of properties, but said he feared it might be "a little late in the day to be trying to convert people's perceptions''.

He said he was also concerned the ads might be pushing the absolute minimum prices available -- rather than prices visitors would realistically end up paying. But then that is common practice in travel advertising, he said.

Whether or not they are late in the day or not, Mr. Woolridge said the ad campaign is clearly attracting attention.

Among those inundated with calls, he said, was an unfortunate woman in White Plains, New York: One local property had listed its number in the ad with one incorrect digit.

"Fortunately, she had the presence of mind to call our office in New York,'' Mr. Woolridge said. "They gave her the correct number and she gave it out to people who called her. So even those calls were not lost.'' Mr. Woolridge said the campaign represents the first time the Department of Tourism and individual properties have produced joint ads, although they have often made sure their separate ads ran side-by-side on a single page.

In the Bermuda Breaks campaign, hotels and hotel groups like the Bermuda Collection pay the Department of Tourism to appear in the newspaper ads. In return, they are mentioned in radio and billboard ads at no extra cost.

For instance, the Department of Tourism gets 45 seconds and the participating hotel gets 15 seconds.

This joint venture costs $800,000, but major tour wholesalers and retailers, including Thomas Cook Travel and Certified Vacations, are also contributing to the cost and pushing the value to more than $1 million.

"In the past we stayed away from this type of advertising,'' Mr. Woolridge said. "The Department of Tourism promoted Bermuda while the properties promoted themselves. Never before have you seen a licensed property in any of our ads.''