Bermuda's hotels have more bookings for the June and July than they did last year, but they are still likely to finish behind 2001, Bermuda Hotel Association (BHA) President Billy Griffith said yesterday.

The picture across the Island is mixed, with big hotels doing much better than last year and pushing up the overall figures, while smaller hotels and cottage colonies are lagging well behind 2001.

Official BHA figures provided to The Royal Gazette show that actual bookings for May were 0.4 percent behind last year with occupancy rates of 71.9 percent.

As of May 31, June bookings across the Island were 2.4 percent ahead of the same period last year, projecting 76.4 percent occupancy. July bookings would put occupancy up 5.9 percent at 64.5 percent, but business on the books for August is 1.6 percent down at 39.8 percent.

Last year saw an all-time low for visitor arrivals, down 21 percent on 2000 at 430,064.

Mr. Griffith told The Royal Gazette yesterday: "The trend is going to be flat to slightly behind last year. We are not going to achieve any gains by the end of the year.

"It is disappointing, but it is a matter of trying to capture as much as we can compared with the rest of the competition.

"We are reasonably happy with the share we are getting, but we are not happy with the overall numbers, and we need to see a turnaround at some point.

"The good news is we are not losing a significant amount of ground. Based on the numbers coming out of the Caribbean, it would appear Bermuda is holding its own against the competition even though it is difficult in the marketplace."

The BHA figures confirm trends in a Royal Gazette survey last week that showed major hotels were up on 2001 and predicting a better year, while other hotels believe their occupancy levels will slump even further from last year. Bookings at May 31 showed occupancy in the big hotels - the Fairmont Southampton and Hamilton Princess Hotels, Sonesta Beach, Elbow Beach, and the Harmony Club - for June was 6.1 percent up on last year with occupancy of 76.5 percent.

July was showing bookings up 12 percent from last year at the big hotels, while August was flat.

But it was a far gloomier picture for the same period for small hotels - Waterloo House, Stonington Beach, Surf Side, Rosemont, Rosedon, and Astwood Cove - and for cottage colonies (Cambridge Beaches, Pompano, Ariel Sands, Coral Beach, Horizons and Cottages, and The Reefs).

Small hotel bookings for June at May 31 were down 15.6 percent at 68.2 percent occupancy, July was off 13 percent at 42.3 percent, and August was behind behind 5.3 percent, which would show 32 percent occupancy.

Cottages colonies were off 2.6 percent for June at 82.8 percent, down 11.2 percent for July at 62.3 percent, and behind 7.9 percent for August at 49.6 percent.

Mr. Griffith added: "The trends are showing what we anticipated. I think the flatness was predictable.

"We can see that the major hotels have been making the stronger performances and they have been pulling the numbers along. The smaller hotels and cottage colonies are lagging behind a bit."