The number of people working in hotels in Bermuda has dropped dramatically after the closures of Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort and the Palmetto Bay Hotel.

According to figures released yesterday in Government's Quarterly Bulletin of Statistics for the first quarter of 1999, hotel employment dropped by 17.8 percent.

This means that hotels across the Island now employ 630 fewer staff compared to the same period last year.

The report states: "The seasonal shutdown of some tourist establishment sand the redevelopment at the Palmetto Bay Hotel contributed in part to this downward turn.'' But the major portion of the low rate of employment was blamed on the closure of the Marriott. The report added: " The establishment released nearly 500 employees leading up to the end of its operations in November 1999.'' The report, which takes in the period up to the end of March 2000, also showed growth in the number of residents making trips abroad.

More than 27,000 trips to overseas countries were made -- up 7.4 percent on the same time last year.

The United States was the most popular destination, with 18,664 trips in the three month period, a rise of 6 percent, year over year.

The growth rate in travel of foreign countries other than Canada and the United Kingdom has steadily declined since the first quarter of 1998.

"This perhaps reflects the limited airfare specials available for air travel beyond the United Kingdom and further south of North America,'' the report said.

But the amount spent by residents that was declared at Customs dropped by four percent to $6.3 million.

An estimated $2.3 million was spent on clothing and footware, $754,000 on household furniture and appliances, $378,00 on toys and sporting goods, $314,000 on tapes and compact discs and $63,000 on jewellery and watches.

The building boom continued on the Island with the total value of construction work rising by 10.7 percent over the amount spent in the first quarter of 1999.

Nearly $40.5 million worth of work was completed for a wide variety of construction projects.

Construction boom rolls on surged to $9.4 million.

"This sector has remained relatively stagnant in past periods, but was boosted by the Palmetto Bay redevelopment project, which started during the quarter,'' the report said.

The private sector accounted for 89 percent or $36.2 million of the total completed work.

The report states: "Capital projects managed in the private sector have dominated the building industry ever since the latter half of 1998. The on-going work at major building sites such as Exel House, the Bermuda Press Building, ACE Insurance and Destination Villages, continue to spur the overall growth of the construction industry.'' New projects were valued at $28.1 million during the new quarter, suggesting sustained building activity for the remainder of the year.

In tourism, air visitors spent $46.9 million in the quarter -- an average of $972.40 each -- while cruise ship passengers spent $100,000 in total -- an average of nearly $150 each.

"Per capita spending was actually higher than last year, but due to a decline in overall volume of visitors, total expenditure for this component decreased year-over-year,'' said the report. The Island hosted a total of 48,227 air visitors and 668 cruise visitors during the first quarter of 2000.

There was a fall in stay-over visitors of 7.2 percent or a fall of 3,700. The number of US visitors from the US fell 12.3 percent.

Resort hotel occupancy levels fell by 15.9 percent and guest houses by 11.9 percent.

TOURISM TOU