While visitor arrivals are up by 1.2 percent, air arrivals are down by 9.5 percent in the third quarter, according to figures released by Minister of Tourism and Transport Dr. Ewart Brown yesterday.

There were 196,084 visitors to the Island between July and September, compared to 193,815 during the same period a year ago.

Dr. Brown said the nine months of 2005 have surpassed monthly totals from 2004, with a year to date showing an increase of 15,668 visitors, or 3.9 percent.

Air travellers pumped between $102.6 million and $115.6 million to the Island's economy during the peak season.

Dr. Brown said 2005 was shaping up to be one of the best in history as far as cruise arrivals are concerned.

Current year to date figures indicate cruise arrivals are 10.9 percent ahead of the figures from the same period last year, and with more late-season arrivals due in the final quarter, the total for the year should surpass the current record of 226,097 set in 2003.

On average these 101,295 visitors contributed $20.8 million to the Island's economy during the third quarter.

Yacht arrivals for the third quarter were down by 21.8 percent or 233 compared to 298 last year, but this drop was attributed to the threat of hurricane season and the lack of insurance coverage which deters sailors from venturing out in the Atlantic during this time. During the third quarter visitors occupied 342,253 room nights in licensed commercial properties and 218,669 in private homes.

In a month-by-month breakdown, Dr. Brown said total arrivals in the month of July lagged behind that of July last year with 64,648 compared to 69,924.

August 2005 arrivals were 74,968 and these numbers virtually mirrored those of 2004 which were 75,165.

September, meanwhile, saw a significant gain over the totals from last year, 56,465 in 2005 versus 48,730 in 2004, which represented an increase of 15.9 percent.

During the third quarter, 80 percent of the air visitors came from the United States, 8 percent from Canada, eight percent from the UK, one percent from Europe and three percent from the rest of the world.

"Bermuda, like many sun destinations struggled this summer amid stormy weather forecasts, declining consumer confidence in the US and soaring oil prices. Records show that there was a sharp fall in summer traffic compared to last year to many destinations in the Caribbean and South Florida," he said.

According to travel executives interviewed by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, "the early strong hurricane season and a weakening of consumer confidence with some belt-tightening on non-essential spending are seen as the principal reason for the weakness in sun destinations."

Dr. Brown said the impact of global unrest and other natural disasters simply added fuel to the fire for an already struggling airline industry, which, despite best efforts by the Tourism and Transport team in co-operation with Bermuda's industry partners, had a particularly "devastating affect" on airfares.

He added that best efforts resulted in some fare reductions by some airline partners, but not enough to stimulate the kind of demand required to produce outstanding results during the season.