Visitors who flew to the Island spent $28 million less between April and June this year compared to 2008.

And hotels saw their revenue plummet 29 percent compared to last year, earning $69 million less.

The quarterly bulletin was released yesterday revealing the financial fall out from a 14 percent drop in air arrivals.

The second quarter of 2009 saw the lowest air arrivals in 30 years, when a new method to track arrivals was implemented.

The three-month period saw 74,979 people fly to the Island. They spent $87 million while in Bermuda a 24 percent drop from last year's spending.

Meanwhile, the number of cruise visitors flocking off the ships was down four percent and their spending was down $500,000 compared to the same period last year.

Yesterday evening The Royal Gazette contacted Premier Ewart Brown, who is also the Minister of Tourism, and asked what he thought of the figures and if he was concerned visitor spending and hotel revenue would see and even greater drop in the third quarter. He did not reply to a request for comment.

Previously, Dr. Brown has said the second quarter was a "slowdown to the slowdown" because January to March of 2009 had seen a 22 percent drop in air arrivals. During that quarter spending by air visitors fell 45 percent to $29.7 million, approximately $25 million less than that sector spent the previous year. Dr. Brown added that the numbers reflected the impact the worldwide recession has on tourism and noted that other holiday destinations were reporting similar declines.

The quarterly bulletin stated: "Spending on accommodation and food was lower as air visitors spent $22 million less during the quarter. Similarly, visitor outlays on shopping, entertainment, transportation and other activities were down 21 percent [six million dollars less than the same period last year].

"Revenue for the hotel industry fell 29 percent to $69 million in the second quarter of 2009. All types of accommodation properties experienced sharp reductions in gross receipts. Room occupancy sales for resort hotels totalled $33 million in the second quarter. This was approximately $14 million below earnings from hotel room sales in the same quarter last year.

"The decline in revenue was attributed partly to the 14 percent fall in air arrivals during the second quarter. Aggressive marketing campaigns by some hotels produced increased bookings.

"However, the deeply discounted room prices countered and growth in total income that would have normally resulted from more hotel guests during the promotion period. Revenue from room sales accounted for more than half of the total receipts by resort hotels during the period."

Reduced revenues also meant the hotels had to cut costs and had 42 fewer employees compared to last year.