opportunity for the Island's retailers to make gains this coming year, according to the chairman of Chamber of Commerce sales division.

Condor Airlines weekly flight from Frankfurt to Bermuda, beginning on May 2, Kiwi International Airlines service from Chicago, starting on May 4, and a Viscount Air charter flight from Hartford beginning on May 25, will boost air arrivals, said Ms Nancy Gosling.

"We will be dealing with a whole new market, with the introduction of the German tourist, she said.

"For 1995 we are looking for more air arrivals,'' she said. "Numbers were up in 1994 but many were not air arrivals.'' Visitor arrivals were 589,855 for 1994, up four percent over 1993 but air arrivals at 416,990 were only up 0.9 percent while cruise arrivals rose 12.3 percent.

Visitors who arrive by air are traditionally heavier spenders than cruise passengers.

Increased air arrivals, providing a wider variety of merchandise, improving atmosphere and making shopping in Bermuda more convenient, improving duty rates for retailers, are all part of moving the retail sector ahead, said Ms Gosling.

"In response to this fifth consecutive year of near-flat sales volumes, our energies remained squarely focused on finding ways to gain Government support for the industry,'' she said.

Although 1994 highlights did not include fourth quarter results they did show that third quarter sales increased 1.9 percent over third quarter 1993.

No taxes were raised on retailers in the Budget and Government moved some of the tax burden to the professional sector, she added.