Opposition Leader Kim Swan has challenged Premier Ewart Brown over the tourism figures he presented in Parliament, while accusing Government of disguising the real state of tourism.

In last Wednesday's Budget debate on Tourism, Dr. Brown said Government did not differentiate between business travellers to Bermuda and leisure visitors because "they sleep in the same hotel beds".

Mr. Swan claims the Premier, who is also Minister of Tourism and Transport, is using the boom created by international business travellers to "pump up" overall tourism arrival numbers, which he alleges is misleading.

"No other statement better represents the Government's cover-up of the true health of Bermuda's tourism industry," Mr. Swan contended in a statement last night.

"(It is) misleading — the Premier continues to use the international business boom to pump up tourism numbers."

Dr. Brown refused The Royal Gazette's request for a comment on Mr. Swan's challenge. His press secretary Glenn Jones responded: "No comment. There are better ways for elected officials to talk to one another."

In the House debate, Dr. Brown mentioned while saying Bermuda has seen increased visitors in the last three years: "Bermuda tourism has enjoyed three consecutive years of growth.

"And we have not distinguished our business visitors from our leisure visitors — the hoteliers say that they use the same beds.

"Interest in Bermuda from a hotel development perspective has grown... while the number of Bermudians working in the industry has decreased, we expect to see that change as the new hotel products come on line."

Mr. Swan added the Premier is wrong to combine business traveller arrival data with leisure numbers because the Department of Tourism's budget is aimed at attracting vacationers only.

"Tourism's marketing budget is directed at attracting leisure visitors to Bermuda — no one else.

"Business people visit Bermuda for business reasons. And their decision to come here has nothing to do with the Tourism Department's sales pitch in overseas markets.

"To mix them in with vacationers distorts understanding of the department's effectiveness in promoting Bermuda as a vacation destination.

"Only by tracking leisure tourism arrivals alone can we measure the effectiveness of its marketing and promotional efforts, and thus its use of taxpayer dollars — this is a matter of truth and accountability."

He continued: "We understand that Tourism compiles data differentiating between business and leisure visitors.

"The fact that the Government has decided not to disclose this information feeds the sense that it has something to hide; that it does not want the public to know how we are doing as a vacation destination with our most important customer.

"We therefore challenge the Premier to release the statistics differentiating between leisure visitors and business visitors so that we can have a clearer picture on the health of the industry.

"We believe he should release figures dating back for at least two years so that we can gauge the nature of the 'recovery' in the tourism industry.

"We want the cold hard facts of Bermuda's tourism industry.

"By not breaking out the business visitors from leisure arrivals we, and the people of Bermuda, are left to view the industry through the prism of official spin."