Hoteliers are concerned at the continued slide in hotel occupancy rates after a 77.6 percent rate was reported for July ? and projected percentage for August is only 54.5 percent.

Bermuda Hotel Association President and co-chairman of the Bermuda Alliance for Tourism (BAT), Michael Winfield, said that every month 70 percent of the association?s members participate in a pace projection of occupancy rates for the coming month ? these are always conducted on the same day of every month.

In June this year the pace projection for July was 64 percent and even though it was expected to jump significantly, the increase of only 13.6 percent by the end of the month was alarming as July is considered one of the peak months of the year for Bermuda. In 2004 the hotel occupancy rate for July was 82 percent.

Mr. Winfield said yesterday that members wanted to see figures in the 90s, not the 70s, adding that there was a significant drop in leisure business, as opposed to group business which only affected the larger hotels.

?We are working very hard with the Department of Tourism and BAT to see some improvement,? he said.

While the pace projection for August was only 54.4 percent, Mr. Winfield said he expected the figure to pick up at the last minute, but did not think it would reach the occupancy rates the hotel association would like to see. ?A lot of our members are saying that this summer is a lot slower than previous years,? he said, adding that the possible lack of awareness of Bermuda in primary markets, including North America, was of concern, as are high airfares and hurricanes.

Mr. Winfield said while there were some things they had no control over, as in hurricanes, BAT was working on the airline situation. He said the introduction of USA3000 was a step in the right direction and they continued to work with Government to address high airfares. ?We need to focus on raising Bermuda?s profile through marketing, public relations, direct mail and other means.?

Mr. Winfield supported Tourism Minister Dr. Ewart Brown?s decision to refocus its New York sales team and terminate its former UK representation company, Hills Balfour to appoint Bermudian, Thomas MacDonald to this position instead.

?The Minister has refocused the sales team in New York and eliminated high administration costs, which were higher than he wanted to see, to increase direct benefits. Bigger bang for the buck.?

Mr. Winfield said he would love to see more visitors to Bermuda from Europe and was pleased to see UK flights were picking up.

In the summer there are currently five flights a week from the UK and four in the winter months ? an increase over the last few years.

He said he hoped to see more flights next summer and the additional four late night flights from Miami, Newark and Philadelphia and JFK were a great success.

?The days of Bermuda being able to depend on high summer occupancies are over.?

Mr. Winfield said the hoteliers, Government and community needed to work together as partners at finding markets and encouraging people to come to Bermuda ? selling Bermuda as the ?product? they ultimately wanted.