Premier's Commission on Competitiveness that the Ministry of Tourism should become a quango. The theory seems to be that Bermuda's tourism might be managed more effectively if it was removed from the political sector and from the Civil Service and operated more as a business.

The suggestion is not new but it seems to us to have a new prominence. There are people who feel that Bermuda has to get out and fight for visitors as a business rather than as a Government ministry. The idea is that a tourism quango would be free to hire people who are eminent in the tourism field without the restrictions inherent in the Civil Service and without considering applicants who may have seniority in Government service but are not necessarily well versed in tourism. There is also an idea that tourism would be free of political decisions if it were run by a quango manager rather than a Government minister. Ministers may be good politicians or even good managers but are not necessarily experienced in international tourism and a top tourism manager could be found.

There is a tough tourism market today and to compete takes experienced management to cope with a great deal of competition and it may be an overwhelming job for any person who has to get elected. It may also be unrealistic to expect that the Civil Service pay scales will attract people with the talent to compete against tourism specialists. What is really suggested is "Tourism Incorporated'', free to do the best it can for Bermuda, in place of a Ministry of Tourism, answerable to a political party and the party caucus.

The problem is that there is no guarantee that a quango will necessarily do a better job. It might be that the quango would simply spend more on staffing and go along about the same, or worse. So much of tourism rests in promotion that it is very different from the organisational "nuts and bolts'' job which would be the case of the quango we have often suggested to run the Airport.

Right now the Ministry of Tourism largely hires promotional experts in the free market overseas. We are yet to be convinced that the public relations firms overseas do as good a job as the old Bermuda News Bureau used to do when it was a part of the Department of Tourism and before Government decided to make a mash of all and sundry PR at Information Services.

The local organisation and political presentation come from the Civil Service and the politicians in Bermuda. It might be that a quango would choose not to hire Bermudians in top jobs or not to hire Bermudians to work in our tourist offices overseas. That might be a mistake because, as far as promotion is concerned, it might take non-Bermudians years to learn about Bermuda what Bermudians know automatically. However the quango would be free of the constraints of the Civil Service when looking for people for top jobs and would, presumably, be free to look outside Bermuda.

The real question, as we see it, would be whether or not a quango would be more effective in getting people to Bermuda. We think it is the way Bermuda is likely to go because the pressures to compete are enormous.