Government yesterday took the unusual step of releasing its update on the economy on a Sunday. The latest snapshot of how Bermuda is performing shows a new record number of cruise ship visitor arrivals and a modest improvement in air arrivals and tourist spending, with lower cost airfares between the Island and the UK cited as a contributing factor.

Tourist air arrivals from all destinations rose just over 1,000 year-on-year for the third quarter to 97,875.

However, the figures for the entire year-to-date show a 2.8 percent gain in air arrivals which for the first nine months of 2007 stood at 243,294.

There was a near one percent drop in tourists flying in from the US, but this was made up for by a noticeable rise in those arriving from the UK, with a 16.7 percent improvement.

There was also a greater demand for accommodation in the Island's smaller tourist properties, such as guest houses and cottage colonies which enjoyed greater use compared to the resort hotels where guest numbers fell by 3,000 to 46,895.

Despite the lower numbers of guests for the bigger hotels, they continued to see improved income with a 2.1 percent rise representing $1.8 million more than a year ago.

Tourists who arrived by air pumped $132.3 million into the economy during the three-month period as they paid for accommodation, entertainment, transportation, shopping and other activities.

Cruise ship arrivals hit the highest quarterly level since records started in 1961, according to the Department of Statistics' bulletin.

Ship visitors, who totalled 175,148, spent $34.9 million on the Island, which is $3 million more than spent by cruise ship visitors over the same period last year. Hotel employment declined by 243 jobs, of which 157 were lost in "major resort hotels", leaving the sector's official employment level at 2,847.

Overall, hotel industry revenue improved 4.3 percent to $103.4 million, with smaller hotels enjoying the best improvement with sales advancing 20.9 percent. Bermuda residents made more overseas trips — up 4.8 percent — and declared purchases of $18.4 million, up $1.6 million on a year ago.

Trips to the US were up just over five percent, while trips to the UK rose by 30.9 percent. The popularity of Canada decreased, with 4.4 percent fewer trips.

Domestically, retail sales showed moderate gains, with the figures up 3.6 percent.