Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell last night cautiously backed the Tourism Department's marketing review but expressed concerns about its timing.

Mr. Dodwell said Tourism Minister David Allen's review of the Department's public relations and advertising contracts was appropriate.

"Absolutely. We would have headed down that road also,'' he told The Royal Gazette . "If it had not been for the timing of the General Election, we would have started sooner.'' He noted that the department had already reviewed its direct mail marketing approach under his watch, resulting in the hiring of Barry Blau & Partners last April.

Mr. Allen has ordered a review of the advertising and public relations contracts held by DDB Needham and Porter Novelli.

Thirty two agencies were invited to participate in the review process and all proposals had to be in to the department yesterday.

DDB Needham dropped out of the race after holding the contract for a decade, apparently because it could not meet the department's requirement that it team up with a local agency in its bid for the contract.

Mr. Dodwell said he would not have called for a review of the contracts because of criticism toward DDB Needham, but because it would have been "good business practice''.

"All advertising changes,'' he pointed out. "Nothing is ever constant except for change. Change is good and it is good to change because of competition.'' Mr. Dodwell backed Mr. Allen's desire to use local talent in the marketing but noted that the move raised certain questions.

"What does it do to the overall budget when you have two agencies concerned -- that means two companies both wanting profits. There could be duplications and there could be disagreements.

"Ultimately there has to be a line of authority between the two agencies and that will have to be carefully managed.'' The Shadow Minister also questioned Mr. Allen's thinking in regards to the outcome of the General Election changing the way people outside Bermuda viewed the Island.

"I do not think that is true,'' said Mr. Dodwell. "I do not think that anyone looks at Bermuda any differently as far as the tourism product goes.'' And he questioned his opposite number's rationale behind his desire to put the Bermuda back in Bermudian tourism because, in his view, it had never left.

"I thought that was unfair. I do not think the Bermudian identity has ever been out of Bermuda tourism. In my view the Bermudian identity has always been there.'' But Mr. Dodwell also noted that marketing was only part of the successful tourism equation.

"Marketing is not the be all and end all of a tourism destination. It's also about product and the customer. If we do not deliver the product we promise in our marketing then we have wasted that marketing.'' Mr. Dodwell said he was also concerned about the timing of the review.

"The timing worries me. It's a tall order to get the review done in time to release a campaign which has to be in the marketplace by the end of March.'' The review process was a huge task, he continued, as the presentations the competing agencies made were, in essence, mini-campaigns.

"A lot of time, money and effort goes into these presentations and they all have to be reviewed and analysed and then short listed at which point the agencies on the short list are asked to do even more.

"It is a time consuming and expensive process. The Department essentially has eight to ten weeks to get the reviews done, short list the applicants and then select one which has to then get a campaign up and running by the end of March.

`If you want to capture the season you have to have your campaign out promptly.''