Making Bermuda a total Island resort and the theme of partnership were the platforms of this year's Tourism Ministry Budget, Tourism Minister David Dodwell told Parliamentarians yesterday.

But Shadow Tourism Minister David Allen was scathing about the United Bermuda Party's record on tourism.

He said the tourism decline happened on the UBP Government's watch so it had to be held accountable.

Kicking off the debate on his department's funding, Mr. Dodwell said the Tourism Budget received close to $1.5 million extra this year.

This five percent increase over last year raises the total estimated expenditure for the Tourism Ministry to $33,237,000.

For tourism to enjoy success, said Mr. Dodwell, there had to be willingness to change the industry and bring about change; a commitment to train and retrain the work force; and a desire to create the product the customer wanted and to service that customer.

And to compete in the tourism industry, Bermuda could not sit back on the attributes it had always relied on, including: natural beauty; market proximity; and the friendliness of its people.

These were simply the basics needed to get into the game now.

"The bar has been raised. Customers in the nineties want more for their money and they can get it in a larger number of places,'' said Mr. Dodwell.

A five year road map for the tourism industry to move forward with has been created by a group involving Tourism Ministry and Board members plus hoteliers.

It emphasises the theme of partnership and the need for the public and private sectors to work together and jointly invest in the industry if they want it to succeed.

This plan is now in the process of being implemented, said Mr. Dodwell.

The essence of it is for Bermuda to regain its status as the premier, upscale vacation experience by building on its strengths of beauty, friendliness and sophistication.

The type of customer the Island will target will be the sophisticated, discerning, upscale traveller who was looking for an escape and the areas the Island would focus on would be those with direct air service.

The concept the marketing task force had come up with which would be unique and help to hook these potential visitors was the theme of Bermuda being a total Island resort.

Bermuda's safety allowed visitors to travel Island wide, unlike other destinations; it was close to the Eastern US; and had a lot of activities on offer.

Therefore it gave the Island a competitive advantage but the Island had to deliver.

Mr. Dodwell pointed out: "In order to be this we need to give high quality service. If we do this I believe we can win.'' To achieve this there were three imperatives: the desire to make tourism work had to be instilled in everyone; the product had to be improved; and an effective year round marketing and sales programme needed to implemented.

He said he believed that Government and the private sector's money and energy used jointly could achieve this.

Looking at the three imperatives, Mr. Dodwell said the appreciation of tourism and the willingness to accept change was a fundamental the Visitor Industry Partnership were looking at implementing.

The Ministry of Tourism had also committed to making a benchmark study on the attitude of Bermudians to tourism. The last time a study like this was done was in 1989.

Monies were also being allocated to keeping Bermudians informed about tourism.

This had been seen with inserts in the newspaper such as the cruise ship policy and two more were due to come.

These included the long awaited review of airline policy and a study on the trends developing in visitor accommodations.

Critical to the idea of an entire Island resort was the development of the Island product.

The trend study would help show what type of hotels were being built and which styles Bermuda could take advantage of.

Another major scheme was the Freeman Service Strategy which received $.5 million in the Budget.

A number of hotel employees had gotten involved in preparing standards for the hotels they worked in and 117 members of staff had completed a train the trainer course.

The standards would allow each hotel to be measured and their guests had already begun doing this by filling out guest response cards.

Another way these standards would be measured would be by the use of a mystery shopper -- an anonymous guest who visits and assesses hotels unbeknownst to hotel staff.

Mr. Dodwell noted that Bermudians were being trained to take over and run this strategy once it was up and going.

The next objective for the Ministry was to get it up and running in the hotels which did not have it. He added that its implementation in other areas of the hospitality industry was being examined.

Another scheme, the Monitor Group, received $1 million in funding in the Budget.

The Group is now in phase two of its action plan which has seen it work with a cultural tourism task force, the Bermuda International Film Festival, Scuba diving and local transportation agents in an attempt to create a transport map and specific taxi tours.

Phase Three of the Group's work kicks off on April 1 and further investment will be sought from the private sector under the theme of partnership.

The final selection of what activities the Group would undertake in this phase was under discussion and local hospitality and service providers would be contacted when final decisions were made.

Meanwhile the bulk of Government's Budget to the Tourism Department will go towards creating a more effective year round marketing and sales programme.

Mr. Dodwell said that Tourism would focus the $27 million given to marketing and sales on public relations, direct marketing and technological marketing.

"In order to win in tourism you have got to be bold, different and innovative,'' said Mr. Dodwell. "You have got to be able to change.'' The role of marketing was to raise the awareness of potential visitors, entice them into thinking about visiting the Island, getting them to choose Bermuda and then having them come here.

The new marketing plan for the Island involved cooperative participation between the public and private sectors, having every area of marketing and sales integrated and getting people to visit the Island.

It would allow for its success to be measured so further changes could be made.

The plan was still being worked on, he continued, but he expected it to be made public in the next two or three weeks.

Mr. Allen replied noting that hotel employees were being laid off during the peak summer months, taxis had low levels of business and restaurants were closing their doors.

"If the economy is performing well, who is it performing well for?'' he asked.

Turning to tourism's new five year plan, Mr. Allen said: "On the face it looks fine.'' However, not everything was in synch with this concept, he claimed.

He said Elbow Beach was changing its format to become a "gated community'', and visitors not staying there plus the general public would be denied access to it.

Mr. Allen added that he was concerned that this trend may apply to the proosed Morgan's Point development also.

He then looked at the new Bermuda Tourism Authority, for which money was put aside in the Tourism Budget.

Bermuda did not need another quango like the Bermuda Housing Corporation, he said, noting the recent uproar about the lack of affordable housing.

The Progressive Labour Party would restructure the Tourism Board and make it more productive by filling its positions with real professionals and giving it more power and functions.

The PLP would also offer more tax incentives, encourage Bermudian entertainment, install an air charter operating out of Europe and encourage hotels to expand their family related activities.

It would also create fully functioning tourism offices in California and Chicago while pushing for direct non-stop service from areas without it and a one-stop service from the West Coast.

Ministry of Tourism 1998/99 estimates Ministry responsibility: To promote and control the tourist idustry for the benefit of Bermuda and to oversee marine services.

Budget estimate: $33,237,000(last year $31,748,000) Revenue: $210,000 Budget allocations Administration $2,634,000 Marketing $20,963,000 Sales $6,433,000 Activities $2,537,000 Management Information $665,000