not be playing host to the so-called mega cruise ships any time soon.

Dr. Brown made the announcement after receiving a copy of a feasibility study for larger vessels.

He indicated that the Government would not be comfortable accepting ships with more than 1,500 passengers on board and certainly ruled out the very largest liners, which carry up to 3,000 passengers.

Dr. Brown noted, rightly, that Bermuda is an unusual market because it is a single destination market where ships come for several days. Many ships in the Caribbean and Mediterranean markets will visit a port a day and do not stop overnight.

"We think we are a special market and a special destination. When we have finished our discussions with the cruise ship industry, we will find out how special we are,'' Dr. Brown said. It is to be hoped that the Government does not find that the Island has a higher opinion of itself than that held by the cruise companies.

This may not be the case. Occupancies on the cruise ships regularly calling on the Island have remained very high, showing that Bermuda remains a popular destination.

All the same, it may be that the Island will have to accept larger vessels in time, as the cruise companies continue to build bigger and bigger ships.

That may in turn mean that the Island will have to accept fewer vessels in order to limit the number of passengers which Government believes Island's infrastructure can support.

But there is some risk that complacency and having too high an opinion of the Island's special nature will cost the Island the piece of the cruise industry it needs to be successful.

TRAVELLING MAN EDT Travelling man While many, including this newspaper, remain unconvinced about the benefits of sending the Gombeys and members of the Bermuda Regiment Band to the World Economic Forum in Davos, one person who should keep on visiting the Swiss ski resort each year is Finance Minister Eugene Cox.

Mr. Cox told The Royal Gazette that he met with officials from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and brought them up to date on the Island's financial and tax regulations.

Because the spectre of being put on an OECD hitlist of offshore tax havens remains very real, it is important that Mr. Cox keeps on beating the drum for Bermuda whenever and wherever possible to ensure that Bermuda is seen as a model international financial centre.