Government is failing in its duty to “protect and grow Bermudian jobs and career opportunities,” according to the Opposition One Bermuda Alliance.In a statement reacting to the latest statistics on air arrivals, the OBA’s Shadow Tourism Minister Shawn Crockwell yesterday criticised the Government for being slow off the mark in developing a tourism marketing campaign.And Kim Swan, interim leader of the United Bermuda Party has echoed similar sentiments, saying that the Government had neglected promoting the tourism product in the gateway cities for too long.“During the summer the Government finally prepared the launch of a new marketing campaign — ‘So Much More’ — but it comes too late to save the tourism year. We understand from sources that August and September may be the worst on record,” Mr Crockwell said.“This year’s scramble by the Government to finally put in place a strategic marketing plan comes too late in the game, at least for 2012.“There is too much at stake, too many jobs on the line and too much opportunity going to waste to have a Government that forgets its number one role, which is to protect and grow Bermudian jobs and career opportunities. We need to change this.”Air arrivals fell by 6.6 percent in the second quarter of this year compared with 2011, according to Government’s Quarterly Bulletin of Statistics.The decline was matched by a corresponding drop in tourist accommodation bookings. And resort hotels took in $6.8 million less than they did in 2011.“The decline in hotel earnings is serious and concerning,”Mr Crockwell continued.“The industry, after years of big and small properties closing down, has been reduced to a final core of operators. It is essential that these properties do well. Jobs are at stake.”He added that the industry was struggling to fill fewer beds than it had to fill in over 50 years.“Something is amiss, and there is ample evidence to conclude that this is the fallout from Bermuda Tourism operating for years without a strategic plan. We lost touch with the market and the market lost touch with Bermuda.”Mr Swan, for his part, said that he is not surprised at the disappointing statistics.“The root cause is because the PLP Government took its eye off of the ball and neglected the importance of gateway cities and the significant disparity in spending between cruise ship passengers and air bound visitors destined for hotels, guest houses and private homes,” he said.He noted that air visitors spend seven times more than those who come on cruise ships.“The irony is that the $26 million contraction of air visitor spending — caused by a 6.6 percent decline for the quarter nearly equals the $34 million estimated spent by cruise passengers.”And Mr Swan repeated his party’s call for an autonomous Tourism Authority.“Unfortunately, on the eve of a general election and 14 years since the United Bermuda Party first brought this (tourism authority) initiative forward — the PLP government are no closer to accepting the fact that political decision making is hurting tourism.”Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert has said that the newly reconstituted Tourism Board is not much different from Tourism Authorities in other jurisdictions.