was the very man who was ultimately responsible some years ago for publicising Bermuda's tourism industry.

After being faced with placards and protesters on the way to his holiday hotel, Mr. Robert Dilenschneider was on the telephone to his New York office to hear his staff describe the widespread media coverage they had seen in print and broadcast.

He agreed with the Tourism Minister the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge that it was not the best exercise in business marketing for Bermuda's re-emerging tourism industry.

Mr. Dilenschneider is the former CEO of Hill & Knowlton, the biggest US public relations firm, which worked for Government promoting tourism.

Here on a Memorial Day vacation with his family, Mr. Dilenschneider is now running his own successful PR firm and has just released new book, "On Power'', to rave reviews.

An earlier effort, "Power and Influence'', was a best seller.

Yesterday, he said: "I arrived on Friday and saw picketers at three places before getting to my hotel room at Pink Beach. I was speaking to people in my New York office and all they were asking was how I was getting on with the strike.

"It was an anxious time for me. I've seen strikes before, but it was all over the news and in the newspapers back home and anyone seeing it would definitely think twice before coming here for rest and relaxation. That is just the way tourism is.

"Remember when there was publicity over Americans being murdered in the US Virgin Islands, tourism down there dried right up.

"Strikes don't really help people that much anymore. It doesn't help the workers, it doesn't help the hotels and doesn't help the tourists or the country. Tourists just get a bad feeling about it.'' He has come to Bermuda two or three times a year for the last 30 years and admitted that when Hill and Knowlton lost the Bermuda account, he was stunned.

"Every week I used to ask staff what we were doing for Bermuda that week,'' he recalled. "I had a special interest in Bermuda, because I had been coming here for so long.

"When we lost the account, it was an enormous personal loss for me. It was always a mystery to me why we lost it. When it came up for renewal, we felt that we had put in a very competitive bid.'' Mr. Dilenschneider stated that he expected Tourism's PR firm was already moving to tune in vacationers, because the interest for a vacation is back, driven by positive signs in the economy.

"These are also more anxious times,'' he commented. "People are more anxious than they have been in decades, because of the unsettled nature of world events. They need to get away to a safe little island, like Bermuda. "A number of countries have already started gearing up for the next three or four year stint.'' And the labour problems aside, he believes that Bermuda can have a much higher profile in the international press than it currently has.

"There is a whole new generation of potential visitors out there, who know little, if anything about Bermuda. There is a total reorientation needed, not just in the US market, but also the UK market.'' He also believes a major test for Bermuda will be to see how well the country can ingrain the new generation of Bermudians with the concept of service. He has already heard, he said, some comments that not all of the properties here have been able to maintain the high quality of service that made Bermuda popular.

Mr. Dilenschneider's own company in New York and Chicago has fared well, with a staff of about forty, dealing only with blue-chip clients. They include one of Detroit's big three car makers, Pepsi, Credit Suisse First Boston, Dunn & Bradstreet and a large pharmaceutical firm, for whom advisory services are provided.

Mr. Dilenschneider's list of positive developments for Bermuda includes his perception, and he admits it is just his perception, that prices seem to be much more reasonable than they used to be.

Mr. Robert Dilenschneider.