While hotels seemed to be filled to the brim at the weekend as the Bermuda Musical Festival got under way, most tourists who spoke to last week said entertainment was not their main reason for coming to the Island.

Many even professed that they had heard nothing about the festival ? much of which was washed out by the weekend?s bad weather ? but hotels said it seemed to be helping their numbers.

Shelley Meszoly, area director of sales and marketing for Fairmont Bermuda, said the Fairmont Southampton was sold out on Saturday night and had only 50 rooms (out of 593) to sell for Sunday.

?We are enjoying a very nice weekend,? Ms Meszoly said. ?The Hamilton Fairmont was sold out (Wednesday). A lot has to do with the festival, but we also have other groups staying with us. Also, Fairmont is the lead sponsor for the Festival, so a lot of our rooms were in for that.?

Two other hotels contacted by said that they were 100 percent full for Saturday night ? Elbow Beach and Grotto Bay.

Harmony Club was at 90 percent capacity on Saturday night and Hamilton Fairmont at 85 percent, well above the August, 2004 average occupancy rate of 75.3 percent according to the Bermuda Hotel Association (BHA).

However, on Sunday ? when the Bermuda Music Festival had officially ended ? occupancy levels dropped back to 72 percent and 78 percent for the Hamilton Fairmont and Grotto Bay respectively.

The BHA said that for the last 14 years, average occupancies have been in the 70 percentiles, but were in the 80 percentile in 1990. In the 1980s the average hotel occupancy was in the 90 percentiles.

However, despite hotel sales looking rosy for the weekend, every single visitor spoke to on Front Street yesterday said they did not know about the Music Festival before they arrived here.

In an informal survey, asked 25 visitors the same five questions: Were they visitors? What did they think of the entertainment on the Island? Would they come back to the Island? What brought them to Bermuda? Did they come for the Music Festival?

If they did not say they were visitors for the first question, they were not asked any more questions.

Nearly half of those surveyed (48 percent or 12 visitors) said that the entertainment on the Island has ?been quiet? for them so far.

?There is not a whole lot?, ?It?s six out of ten?, ?Not in St. George?s? and ?I?ve not seen any? were some of the comments.

Thirty-six percent of those surveyed (nine visitors) said that they ?had not been to any entertainment? while they were on the Island so far.

?There is none, is there? ? one man asked.

Many of the visitors were cruise ship passengers who indicated that they spent most of their time onboard, rather than frequenting local establishments. Twenty percent of those surveyed (five visitors) said the entertainment in Bermuda was ?great?.

?It?s good at Ozone,? a man sitting outside the Beach bar on Front Street said. ?Hog Penny is good and Pickled Onion.?

Although there was a fairly mixed bag of responses among visitors on the entertainment question the survey revealed one certainty ? 100 percent of those surveyed said that they would return to Bermuda.

Mr. and Mrs. Robert MacGregor from outside Boston said they have been coming back to Bermuda since 1972.

?My husband was in the Newport to Bermuda Race. He got back the same day that our son was born,? Mrs. MacGregor said.

?It?s beautiful,? the group sitting at the Beach said. ?We have been here before, five years ago.?

All said they had come to Bermuda on a cruise ship. But why Bermuda?

?It sounded good. It had beaches and shopping. It was a tropical Island,? one couple answered. ?I had never been here before so I thought I would come and see it.?

Mr. MacGregor said that he normally flew to Bermuda but ?flights are expensive from Boston?.

?That?s why we cruised this time,? he said. ?To be honest, it makes me feel like a second class citizen a little bit.?

Mrs. MacGregor said she thought her husband felt like a second class citizen because the cruise ship gave them discount tickets for use at certain local restaurants ?but they give you a different menu?.

None of the visitors surveyed said they came to Bermuda for the Music Festival.

?We did not know about it until we got here,? a woman said.

?No, we are leaving before it starts,? another said.

Two visitors from the UK staying on a cruise ship in St. George?s said they did not know it was on until they got here.

They said they had already seen ?the bands? at Harbour Nights on Wednesday in Hamilton but would not go to Dockyard to see the Festival.

?I don?t think we could get down,? they said. ?There are transport problems running from St. George?s.?