tourism industry and the international business sector to help finance the Monitor Company's work in Bermuda.

St. George's Club president and chief executive officer Alistair Woolf said the organisation had inspired tourism operators and employees to commit to changing the Island's product, service, attitude and delivery to the visitor.

And he warned: "It would be a regrettable failure if the innovators and the facilitator, the Monitor Company, quietly handed over the reins before all aspects of Bermuda's tourism industry had succeeded in uniting together.'' Mr. Woolf was speaking after Monitor made a series of presentations on the Tourism Competitiveness Programme to the public last week.

And he said the organisation's strength was that it could operate free of political, racial, creed or establishment bias which enabled it to point out that Bermuda was afraid of change.

"Monitor has acknowledged that we are xenophobic, insular and self-protectionist and that we see Bermuda as an impenetrable country entitled to ignore the global warning signs, where visitors are privileged to be admitted and should not complain.

"In reality, the quality of both accommodations and service in our hospitality industry falls far below the expectations of global travellers in an increasingly shrinking arena of destinations.'' Mr. Woolf said change would take as long as three to five years before it became noticeable and that the community had to join hands, communicate, educate, facilitate, anticipate and cooperate to achieve that goal.

"I urge my colleagues in the tourism industry, international business, the insurance companies and everyone else who wishes to commit to protecting Bermuda's future to dig deep into their pockets to ensure that the requisite funds are available for this vital project,'' he said.