The 2005 summer season has started off extremely well for several hotels and resorts in Bermuda.

In a quick survey of some of the larger hotels and resorts, figures so far this season were positive and in some cases a major improvement since 2004.

One of these is the Elbow Beach Resort and Erica Miller said while the figures so far this season were positive, they could not compare the same time last year as the resort was undergoing renovations at the time. ?But so far this year for August, September and October, the numbers are already up from last year,? she said.

This bodes well for tourism in general as the first quarter saw an increase in overall visitors to the Island by 11.6 percent compared to the same period last year.

According to figures from the Department of Tourism, hotel/resort bookings also increased by 13.3 percent.

Allan Trew from the Fairmont Southampton said for the last week or so the hotel had a 100 percent occupancy rate.

He said this was due in part to two large Merrill Lynch groups staying at the hotel which included up to 1,000 people.

Mr. Trew said bookings for June were currently at 92 percent and 56 percent for July.

?We find individual travellers book at the last minute so we?re optimistic for the rest of the year,? he said.

August being one of the busiest times on the Island, Mr. Trew said it appeared visitors to Bermuda were waiting to see what would happen with airfare prices before making reservations, but added that so far the occupancy rate for this year was already showing much improvement since 2004.

The Fairmont Southampton sustained considerably damage in Hurricane Fabian in 2003 which affected hotel occupancy rates in 2004.

Meanwhile figures from Nine Beaches, which opened its doors at the end of April were not available, but shortly after opening their doors, the resort did report a 90 percent occupancy rate for certain times in May.