tourism statistics for the Island were revealed.

Mr. Allen singled out The Royal Gazette for criticism for a report published on Friday, which contained two errors surrounding the monthly visitor numbers for December.

The Minister said the story, which he said contained "gross distortions and inaccuracies'' and "did nothing to buoy morale amongst the over 30 Bermuda hospitality industry partners working hard to boost our tourism industry'', during last week's tourism roadshow finale in Dallas.

In the story, it was incorrectly reported that 1999 arrival numbers were down in every form of transport to the Island compared to 1998.

Mr. Allen said: "Last year was in fact an all-time record year for cruise passenger arrivals.'' In addition, the total number of visitors last year was 551,601, not the 514,914 we inadvertently reported. In both cases a correction was printed in yesterday's paper.

But Mr. Allen demanded a front page correction, adding that the "Bermuda in Perspective'' reports would now be published in the Official Government Gazette in the Bermuda Sun, before they were released to the rest of the media.

Royal Gazette Editor Bill Zuill said he was surprised at Mr. Allen's reaction to the story.

"I am sorry and somewhat shocked that Mr. Allen decided to hold a full-blown press conference on this issue when we had already acknowledged our error to his staff and corrected it quickly and willingly.

"We did make two mistakes in the story, but it should be noted that neither took away from the overall thrust of the statistics, which showed, as we report today, that air arrivals and overall arrivals have reached the kinds iof low points not experienced since the Island was in the fist of the 1992 recession.

"Mr. Allen is entitled to publish the statistics in the Official Gazette and we will continue to report on them. The difficulty with raw statistics is that they are not put in any kind of context; we will continue to put them in context and to report on the tourism industry honestly and fairly.'' Mr. Zuill added: "This is an instance where Mr. Allen could have picked up the phone and he would have received a wholehearted apology from me.

"I think the Royal Gazette's reporting on tourism has been extremely fair and accurate in the last few years and it should have been clear to Mr. Allen that this was an honest mistake which was already corrected before he launched this rather extraordinary attack which by all accounts left those present in a state of bemused shock.''