Premier and Tourism Minister Ewart Brown insists construction will start on at least two new hotels this year.

Responding to Monday's story in The Royal Gazette that of at least eight new resorts publicly announced for Bermuda, none had the financing in place to break ground soon, Dr. Brown said: "I believe there will be at least two hotels and maybe three that will start construction in 2009.

"I believe they are going to be the Park Hyatt, I believe the Four Seasons and there is a chance that one of the South Shore developments will start in '09 as well. I don't know which one. I am very confident that developers are still interested in Bermuda."

Concerned the story painted too dire a picture of the status of the planned developments, Dr. Brown added: "I just left the Caribbean and every Prime Minister wanted to know what we were doing to enable us to have a Park Hyatt or a Four Seasons in the works … most new construction in the Caribbean has stopped."

Bazarian International plans a $294 million 100-room hotel, golf course, spa, and residences at the site of the now demolished Club Med. A management agreement with the Park Hyatt hotel chain was signed in December.

When contacted and asked whether financing was in place, Carl Bazarian told The Royal Gazette: "We are working very hard, and very diligently."

He said he had no further comment on the financing.

However Dr. Brown insisted claims that Mr. Bazarian did not have any debt financing in place, as was stated in Monday's article, were "just not true".

New York private equity firm Brickman has partnered with Coral Beach's Bermuda owners to redevelop the property, hopefully as a Four Seasons resort.

That project is awaiting the go-ahead from Planning, with 40-plus objections filed to the plans, which include a pedestrian tunnel near the entrance to Coral Beach, and reconfiguration of South Road to straighten a dangerous bend in the road.

Dr. Brown added: "I am very confident that developers are still interested in Bermuda."