The head of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce's retail division said last week that retailers were “disappointed” that overseas spending by residents during March increased by 39 percent over the same period in 2003.

“It's a shame that's happened because it affects the amount of shopping done here and obviously directly affects the economy of the retail sector,” said Lawrence Trimingham, who is also president of Trimingham Brothers.

The latest Retail Sales Index figures for the month of March released last week by the Statistics Department showed that residents declared a total of $3.21 million on purchases of clothing, footwear and household items, compared to $2.31 million in 2003 year.

That increase followed a 39.2 percent increase in January to $3.94 million and a 26.1 percent increase to $2.61 million in January.

Local spending in March also increased nine percent to $49.8 million. After taking inflation into account, the volume of goods purchased rose by 5.7 percent, the highest percentage increase since October when local spending jumped after Hurricane Fabian.

The fact that more residents were recorded declaring their overseas purchases for March - 15.8 percent more than in 2003 - could have contributed to the increase in overseas purchases.

But Mr. Trimingham suggested that a change in Government policy is probably driving the year-on-year jump in the numbers.

“We think it's been influenced by the fact that the three-day minimum stay requirement (for claiming duty allowances) has been lifted,” he said. “So what's happening is that more people are encouraged to shop overseas when they're away. It's not a surprising result to us”

Mr. Trimingham admitted that as long as Bermudians travel they will shop and now they have even greater incentive to shop abroad.

But he added that if residents chose to shop here it would be in the better long-term interests of Bermuda: “The stronger shopping here in Bermuda is, the more people can be employed in the retail sector.”

He said retailers would do what they can to keep sales up and keep business competitive to encourage residents to shop in Bermuda. He also added that the retail sales index figures do not necessarily give a complete impression of how the retail sector is really doing.

“It's hard to tell what's really going on in detail from those numbers and the March figures were pretty heavily skewed by the construction sector,” he said. “How well you're doing in retail right now depends on the segment of the economy you're serving. Anything related to building and construction is doing well; those related to tourism are struggling.”

Mr. Trimingham said that with the start of the cruise ship season there was certainly more shopping activity on the Island generally.

“But we have lost some (ships), there will be no Carnival cruise ships this year as there were last year, which will mean as much as 10,000 fewer visitors for August alone.

“We're all watching closely to see what the overall impact will be.”