The number of overseas trips taken by residents during the second quarter of the year and the amount spent by them while away both increased over the figures recorded for the same time last year.

The news came in the Bulletin of Statistics for April, May and June which was released yesterday by Government Information Services.

A total of 32,463 overseas trips were taken during this period, an increase of 7.8 percent over the number of trips taken in the second quarter of 1999 (30,098).

Of the total trips made, 28,021 (or 86 percent) were vacations, 1,694 were for local business travel, 1,792 were for international business travel and 956 were for other reasons.

The number of trips taken for local and international business travel eased back during the quarter by 2.5 percent and 7.4 percent respectively from 1,737 and 1,936 respectively.

The most popular country to visit for Bermudians remained the United States with 23,318 visitors.

This was followed by Canada with 3,994 and the United Kingdom with 2,587.

In the first quarter of this year, the total number of overseas trips came to 27,040. The total for the whole of 1999 was 132,386.

Following the more than 32,000 trips, residents returned to the Island to report some $8.62 million in goods -- an increase of 7.5 percent, or about $600,000 over the estimated figure for the same period in 1999 ($8.01 million).

Clothing and footwear remained the top category for overseas purchases for Bermudians with $3,965,000 spent in this category.

This was down on the same period last year when $3,996,000 was spent.

The other categories showing decreases were tapes, records and compact discs which dropped from $350,000 to $293,000 and tools, machinery and parts which fell from $321,000 to $320,000.

The bulletin's quarterly analysis of spending by broad merchandise goods also indicated higher outlays for a mix of consumer goods.

Residents spent $897,000 on electronic and photographic equipment -- an increase of 15.6 percent from the $776,000 spent during the same period last year.

They also spent $844,000 on household items, furniture and appliances and $474,000 each on toys and sports goods and computer hardware and software supplies for increases of 15.8, 8.2 and 44.1 percent respectively.

BUSINESS BUC