Tourism figures plummeted to a new depths last year - down by well over 100,000 on 2000 which itself was a record low for the last two decades.

Yesterday, Tourism Minister David Allen blamed the drop on the aftermath of September 11, the weakening US economy and lack of bed space due to hotel redevelopment.

Total visitor numbers were 430,064 compared to 543,126 in 2000, a fall of 21 percent. Mr. Allen admitted that even before the terrorism fear grounded aeroplanes, the Island had been braced for a 12 percent slump.

Air visitors dropped below the 300,000 mark with a 16 percent fall over the year while cruise visitors were down by 14 percent.

Of the air arrivals, the US was down 17 percent to 210,984, Canada down ten percent to 27,494 and the UK was down 18 percent to 23,603.

Asked why the figures were going down anyway, without the 9/11 factor Mr. Allen said: "It's clear from the statistics several properties were closed in the first quarter, the Southampton Princess and the Hamilton Princess had a number of rooms out of commission, some entire properties were closed, the Reefs, Cambridge Beaches and Palmetto Gardens."

He said the monthly deficit had gone down from 19 percent earlier in the year to 1.9 percent by August with a surplus predicted in September and October before the terror scare hit.

But he hedged his bets for the coming year, pointing out concerns about security and the soft US economy, but he said Princess hotels would have their new spas open this spring while corporate bookings should also boost numbers. There was gloom on the cruise front with arrivals down by 30,000 visitors. Mr. Allen cited the fact that Crown Dynasty wasn't operating, hurricanes hit arrivals in September and the fire on the Nordic Empress as factors affecting the drop. Mr. Allen admitted prices on the Island were a problem which Government had tried to tackle with a fall promotional campaign. Business from the US, traditionally the staple of Bermuda's tourism industry fell away sharply after the terror attacks, while business from Canada remained relatively buoyant by comparison.

Mr. Allen said there was a belief "out there that Canadians are like the Scots and are known to be careful with their money but the Canadians to stay longer and they are loyal to Bermuda and they have declined nothing like the rate the Americans have".

Large hotels were down 21 percent on bookings with smaller hotels down 15 percent, cottage colonies fell by 14 percent for the year.

The story for the last quarter was even worse with occupancy rates of just 36 percent compared with 62 percent for the same period last year.

There were some crumbs of comfort for the Tourism Minister with poll results saying that the number of North Americans who said they were likely to return had risen from 56 percent to 59 percent while there was a similar trend among European visitors.

Bermuda Hotels Association President Billy Griffith said the winter `Compliments of Bermuda' programme, which gave discounts and gift vouchers, had helped boost bookings over the bleak post September 11 period. He said a similar package, with details to come, later would be brought in for the summer months while other business had been gained from packages being offered to locals. He said: "We have seen some pick-up in business."

He said January this year was up more than 16 percent on that month last year, partly due to compliments of Bermuda and partly due to more hotel rooms coming on stream while projections for April and March were encouraging.