Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell last night slammed his opposite number for laying part of the blame for the Island's worst arrival figures in more than 20 years on September 11.

Mr. Dodwell said the figures were bad before the terrorist attack and he claimed the Progressive Labour Party had still not produced a plan to turn the decline around.

He also said he had doubts about figures from Bermuda Hotel Association, which are predicting occupancy levels for February and April to be ahead of last year, with March being slightly behind.

He spoke out after Tourism Minister David Allen revealed on Wednesday that arrival figures for 2002 were down on the previous year, which itself was the lowest for more than 20 years.

The figures released by the Department were, in fact, wrong, missing out almost 30,000 air arrivals. The correct figures show total arrivals fell 16 percent from 543,126 in 2000 to 458,814 last year.

Air arrivals slumped 16 percent from 328,305 to 275,009, cruise visitors were off 14 percent at 179,435, yacht arrivals were 15 percent behind at 3,372, and cruise and stay lagged behind 11 percent at 998.

Mr. Dodwell told The Royal Gazette: "We are experiencing our worst year in almost 30 years with no apparent sight of a turnaround and no indication Government has a plan to turn it around."

"I ask again: 'What plan does Government have to turn this around?' Saying that other countries have also had a bad year, doesn't solve our problems."

"We shouldn't be trying to put the blame on the US economy or September 11 because the situation was bad before that."

Mr. Dodwell, who owns The Reefs Hotel, said he was concerned that total visitor expenditure, including accommodation, had declined from $1,369 in 2000 to $1,300 in 2001, per visit.

"That means that total visitor expenditure is down, even on a per person basis, so that is having a major impact on the economy."

Bermuda Hotel Association is projecting 31.5 percent occupancy for February (up from 21.1 percent last year), 27.5 percent for March (down from 28.4) and 39.7 percent for April (up from 39.2 percent).

"I am cautious about these occupancy projections for the next few months. My visceral reaction is that the optimism is not there for the next few months. There are a number of hotels which have told me their projections are down," said Mr. Dodwell.

He said he was also worried that section showing visitors' assessment of whether they got value for money was missing this year from the annual figures.