Aspects of the Island's tourism industry "suck'' according to a Government Senator.

And, according to Sen. Calvin Smith, it is up to private enterprise, not Government, to ensure that visitors enjoy their stay when they come to the Island.

Speaking during yesterday's Tourism Budget debate in the Upper House, Sen.

Smith quoted from a survey which showed that many visitors were dissatisfied with the Island's nightlife, shopping, childrens' facilities and all round value for money. European visitors were even less satisfied than their US counterparts.

"What can we determine from these figures?'' Sen. Smith asked.

"One -- our nightlife sucks, particularly with Europeans. This is not a place for kids to enjoy, especially for Europeans. Shopping is not strong and only two thirds agree strongly that they get their money's worth.

"And so our product could do with some improvements. As far as Monitor was concerned, one of the observations they made was that everyone had come to look upon the Government as the major strategist who had to lead everyone along and tell people what to do.'' Sen. Smith said he saw the role of the Government as being one of a facilitator rather than strategist.

He said, as an example, that the Government was in possession of a great deal of statistics and data that would be useful to private companies.

"That's one area in which the Government can make a tremendous contribution,'' he said.

After running through each head of the Tourism Budget, Sen. Smith left Opposition Senators a little more than an hour of the three hour 15 minute debate to respond. A request by Opposition Senate leader Maxwell Burgess to extend the debate by another hour was rejected.

But Sen. Burgess used what little time he had to round on the Government, arguing that, unless they "put their money where their mouths were'' the central plank of the tourism industry -- hotels -- would never prosper.

And he also warned Government not to be taken in by the numbers game, saying it was far more important to get a small number of quality visitors who spent money.

"I beg the Government to desist from bringing in a big weekend cruise ship and then saying the numbers are up,'' he said.

"The hotels have been swimming in a sea of red ink -- it's called rescue time. We have to get the hotel workers back to work.

Sen. Burgess said that money from pension funds should be put into hotels, arguing that it was hypocrisy for the Government to say that that would be too risky.

"The days have gone where Canadian Pacific is going to come and put their money on the line,'' he said.

Senate debates Tourism Budget "We are going to have to start matching them. The Government is not going to put their money where their mouth is and that's why investors come to the same conclusion.

Once the Tourism heads were read for a third time and approved the remaining budget heads were read out and approved without debate before the entire Budget was passed by the Senate.

The Upper House will next sit on Wednesday, April 28 after the Easter break.

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