year-round received a boost yesterday.

A weekly US travel trade magazine will feature a Bermuda section every month, its size depending on Government's advertising dollars.

Travel Agent magazine, which is bought by more than 53,000 travel professionals, will also feature glossy pull-out sections on Bermuda. The first one will be on golf.

Travel Agent's advertising manager Mr. John Rotante said articles on Bermuda have been included in the publication's monthly Caribbean section in the past.

But he said he has always felt "special'' Bermuda should be marketed separately.

Travel Agent has now hired a Bermuda editor who will work closely with hoteliers and Government to produce 2-8 page articles on the Island each month. The editor is Mr. Peter Malbin who was educated in America and has written for a number of US publications.

"It is very important for us to recognise and remember 83-85 percent of the people who come here, come here through travel agents,'' Tourism Minister the Hon. CV (Jim) Woolridge told people in the local hotel and tourism industry at a luncheon yesterday to unveil the new section.

The pull-out section on golf comes out in September.

"The Bermuda Golf Experience'' will include layouts of the Island's eight golf courses and a list of golf packages offered by the various hotels.

Shadow Tourism Minister Mr. David Allen gave the Ministry's efforts thumbs up saying the Progressive Labour Party "supports anything that raises Bermuda's profile overseas''.

"In the past articles on Bermuda have only come out in the spring and summer,'' he noted. "Now a publication has committed to having (articles on Bermuda) appear year round. This will increase the seasonability of Bermuda.'' Mr. Allen added he believed the Island's tourist season has been getting shorter and shorter. He said it used to start in mid-February but now only gets underway in May.

He claimed Government has not done nearly enough to promote the Island's "fine golf courses''. He said it should match the prize purse of golf opens to attract top golfers to Bermuda.

And he pointed out playing golf in January and February in the Caribbean can be too hot, but "very pleasant'' in Bermuda.

"We have never really pushed our golf courses enough,'' he said. Mr. Allen, whose Bermuda Dateline has inserts in the Travel Agent, said he hopes other travel trade publications will follow suit and have sections devoted to Bermuda as well.

BIG BOOST -- Tourism Minister the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge, second left, shows a copy of Travel Agent magazine which is to feature a monthly section on Bermuda. Also shown, fromt left, are new Bermuda editor Mr. Peter Malbin, Travel Agent associate publisher Mr. John Ballantyne and advertising manager John Rotante.