Visitor arrivals to Bermuda fell 22 percent between July and September of 2008 following a sharp decline in cruise ship visits.

Premier and Tourism Minister Dr. Ewart Brown today revealed 211,917 tourists came to the Island in the third quarter of this year, compared to 273,242 for the same period in 2007.

Cruise ship visitors fell by more than a third (34 percent) in that spell, by 61,000 to 114,233; and air arrivals fell by less than half of one percent, from 97,875 to 97,477.

Dr. Brown told a press conference the decrease in cruise ship visitors was “long-planned” and would be tackled with the new cruise ship port for Dockyard.

He described the relatively small fall in air arrivals as “fairly positive news” in the light of the global economic crisis.

Visitor arrivals from the US are down seven percent, but numbers from Canada are up 27 percent and from the UK are up 20 percent.

Surveys show visitors’ spending is down from at least $127.4 million to at least $106.8 million, said Dr. Brown.

Meanwhile, Dr. Brown announced that jetBlue will increase its seat capacity by 50 percent between Bermuda and New York in the first quarter of next year.

For the full story, see tomorrow’s Royal Gazette.