More than a dozen international journalists attended the Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s Sustainable Development Conference this week.The event was hosted by the Bermuda Department of Tourism at the Fairmont Southampton.The Royal Gazette asked some of the reporters what they thought about the Island. Canadian freelancer Michael MaCarthy, who writes for Post Media, described Bermuda as a “giant country club”.“The politeness of the people and the manners, that is what matters to me,” he added. “I don’t want to go to a place where the people are rude, if I wanted to be treated badly I’d go to Paris.“The manners people have, and the care that is taken across the Island the cleanliness, the neatly trimmed road sides it is like going to a giant country club. It’s different from anything else I have seen. It is a beautiful place, but lots of places are beautiful, here it is almost like man-made beauty because it is cultivated.”Stephen Wickens of the Toronto Star said the trip had been great.“The conference has been interesting, there have been some tough questions asked and some people willing to answer them. One of the interesting discussions was about whether mega cruise ships actually benefit the port.“Everyone I have met here has been very helpful. The people within the Bermuda Government have also been very frank about the state of tourism, the mistakes that have been made and it stands them in good stead, to know where the industry is and what they need to do. It is refreshing to see some people with a backbone.”Tony Fraiser, a freelancer from Trinidad and Tobago, who writes for the Trinidad Guardian, has attended several CTO conferences over the years. He said he was pleased to be back in Bermuda, having visited five years ago.“Bermuda always fascinates me,” he said. “It is so Caribbean but yet so unCaribbean the style of houses, the organisation, the discipline.“Where I come from there is a bit of chaos and everything is totally disorganised yet Bermuda is orderly, but when I talk to Bermudians you are Caribbean.”Michele Peterson, an award winning travel writer based out of Toronto, said: “There seems to be a lot of room for growth in Bermuda for tourism. Hopefully, it will be sustainable growth.“It was very interesting to come here, Toronto is only two hours and 35 minutes from Bermuda but I had no idea how close it was until I came here.”