Air arrivals in the second quarter were the lowest seen in 29 years, with 74,979 tourists flying to the Island between April and June.

This afternoon the Department of Tourism released its second quarter report which showed air arrivals were down 14.27 percent compared to the same period last year, when 87,445 tourists flew to the Island.

Premier Ewart Brown, who is also Minister of Tourism, said the figures show Bermuda is not immune to the world wide recession which has seen arrivals figures drop for many tourist destinations.

He noted that cruise arrivals were only down 3.4 percent for the period and overall arrivals, which include yacht visitors, were down 11.2 percent compared to last year.

But Dr. Brown said the figures were an improvement on the first quarter report this year which saw air arrivals drop 22 percent and overall visitors drop 27 percent when compared with 2008, when there were no cruise ships in the first quarter.

“Already, in just the first six months of 2009, we have seen a slowdown to the slowdown,” Dr. Brown said. “Visitor arrivals have improved pretty convincingly between the first quarter and the second quarter of this year. Visitor numbers were down 27.84 percent in the first quarter, but after the second quarter the 2009 year-to-date figure has improved to an 11.28 percent decrease when compared to the year prior.

“That is clearly a trend in the right direction. This trend is expected to improve even further in the third quarter.”

For the full story, including the successes in the Department’s digital marketing campaign and creation of a Bermuda Hospitality Institute, read tomorrow’s The Royal Gazette.