Tourism Ewart Brown had plenty of reasons to celebrate last week as he announced that arrivals for April through June had increased in the first tangible sign that the tourism industry has begin to turn around after years of false dawns and disappointment.

While overall arrivals were the best in some years, air arrivals were also up by almost ten percent. Because air visitors tend to spend more, this is far more important to the Island than the near-30 percent spike in overall arrivals.

Even better, visitors stayed longer, meaning that more money was injected into the economy, a trend supported by higher spending reports in visitor surveys.

There are a number of reasons beyond “feel the love” and “pop and sizzle” for this.

This was the first peak season in which all of the Island’s major properties were open for business, meaning there were more beds available and Bermuda did not have to turn visitors away as happened in previous high seasons.

Clearly, the additional air lift and lower fares have also contributed to the rise.

Dr. Brown said he would deliver a turnaround amid a good deal of scepticism, not least from this newspaper, but so far he is delivering on his promise and he deserves credit.

It is important that Bermuda has a viable tourism industry for several reasons.

In the last decade or more, the Island has become increasingly dependent on international business, meaning that any downturn in that sector could have catastrophic ramifications.

Not all Bermudians are either inclined towards or necessarily have the aptitude for jobs in financial services. That is not an insult and it is not derogatory. Many journalists would be poor accountants and vice versa.

But the tourism industry offers employment opportunities that are not available elsewhere in the economy. Similarly, there are any number of other businesses and job opportunities that depend on tourism to a greater extent than they do on international business, particularly in the retail sector and by that token, a strong tourism industry can and will create more opportunities and ensure the Island offers a variety of businesses and services.

Of course, neither one quarter nor one year makes a recovery, and Dr. Brown rightly raised a number of risk factors that must be considered carefully.

These include crime, especially against visitors, complacency and inattention to detail, he said, adding: “Each of these in their own way will detract from the tireless efforts of many Bermudians to grow tourism.”

He is right on all counts. This recovery has been hard won and remains quite fragile. Anyone who takes a visitor for granted could set it back.

Crime in particular is a huge concern, and the recent publicity over everything from handbag snatches to murders is worrying. Visitors simply have too many choices today, and it takes very little for them to decide against a place where they fear they may not be safe.

There should also be concern about the huge increase in cruise ship arrivals, which for the first time ever exceeded air visitors in the period. It can be argued that Bermuda is in no position to turn anyone away, but the Tourism Ministry needs to ensure that cruise visitors do not overwhelm the Island’s infrastructure.

On that note, the initiative by the Ministry and the Hotel Association to convert cruise passengers into hotel guests is a welcome one, although cruise passengers are often very loyal to the segment and getting them to “bounce back” to Bermuda on a plane is easier said than done.

But overall, the quarter’s figures — and strong projections for the July through September period — are welcome news. Maybe this time, tourism is on the road to recovery.