But the reality is turning into a nightmare for one local hotel which finds itself overbooked going into the coming weekend.

And as other local hotel properties are fully booked and unable to take the Sonesta Beach Hotel's excess guests, tourists headed for the Island may go elsewhere.

Sonesta Beach vice-president Dennis Tucker confirmed last night: "We do have an overbooking situation this weekend.'' He declined to reveal how bad the situation was or how it had been caused.

But he said the problem had been compounded by the boom in guests other local hotel properties were experiencing.

"The Island is incredibly full this weekend,'' said Mr. Tucker.

"Because of the severity of the overbooking, we have been having difficulty in locating sufficient space over this weekend on the Island.'' The news means guests slated to stay at Sonesta over the weekend are being offered vacations in other countries.

Mr. Tucker said: "We have offered a couple of other Sonesta destinations which up until now have been declined.'' Sonesta has operations in Aruba, Curacao and Anguilla but the vice-president stressed every effort was being made to keep people in Bermuda.

Mr. Tucker said he had no idea why the Island was so full this weekend but noted: "I am thankful that we are.''