A senior tourism official has hit out at Immigration officers who refused him entry into Germany.

And Bermuda Department of Tourism public relations manager Charles Webbe said he believed the only reason he was stopped at Frankfurt airport was because he was black.

Just hours earlier, gombey dancers and other tourism representatives had sailed through the airport without a hitch, as they made their way to the World Travel Congress in Strasbourg, France.

But, after arriving on a flight from London, Mr. Webbe was not allowed into Germany and Immigration staff ordered him back to the UK -- because he was not in possession of a visa.

"They claimed I didn't have a visa, which I didn't, but a directive from the German Consul General in New York stated that Bermudians no longer required one,'' he said.

"I was the only non-white on the flight. I always travel properly attired and since I didn't have the profile of a drug smuggler. I felt I would be okay -- but they treated me like dirt.

"They shouldn't be treating people like this who are legitimate travellers.'' Mr. Webbe had all the correct documentation and tickets that showed he was actually enroute to Strasbourg, and was not even planning on staying in Germany -- but the official could not be persuaded.

"An armed dwarf and his associates pored over my document as if it were a hitherto undiscovered manuscript of Mein Kampf, and in spite of telephone entreaties from my German friends that I was a fit and proper person to enter the country, they refused to alter their position,'' he said.

The frustrated tourism official then had to take a flight to Basle, Switzerland, before a long taxi ride to Strasbourg -- meeting up with the official Bermuda delegation hours later then scheduled.

To add insult to injury, the German carrier Lufthansa then forced him to buy a business class ticket for a flight on which there was no such class.

On his return to Bermuda, Mr. Webbe, of Smith's Parish, fired off angry letters outlining his experiences to the Deputy Governor Tim Gurney, the German Consul in New York, and their representative on the Island, lawyer Peter Bubenzer.

And since then, he said he has heard from other Bermudians who have had similar experiences.

"Bermudians travelling to Germany, particularly those of the darker hue, might be well advised to have their wits about them, as unfortunately there appears to still exist that mentality among certain Germans that theirs is still an Aryan race that should not be contaminated by the likes of those of us from dependent territories,'' Mr. Webbe said.