WHAT really bothers me about the laser lights proposal, indeed the whole wow factor debate, is the underlying assumption that the success of a city is measured by the number of visitors it gets.

This is a notion promoted by the Daily Echo and picked up by those who want to be in some silly competition with Portsmouth.

I'm proud of Southampton, and realistic enough to be proud of it as a working city - a trading place, a port rather than a resort, a tourist gateway rather than a tourist destination.

Of course we should make it as attractive as we can, but surely the health and happiness of those who live here are the real measures of its success.

The search for a wow factor is a pointless distraction.

BRIAN HOOPER, Shirley, Southampton.