The number of tourist beds in Bermuda will leap from 8,809 now to 11,175 in 2005 it was announced yesterday - but only if every application to develop is approved.

Tourism Minister Renee Webb revealed the figures yesterday, but said she would not expect all applications currently submitted to be given the go-ahead in their present form.

The figures showed the number of hotels operating could go up from 63 as of October, 2002 to 73 in December 2005.

If all these applications are approved, it will take the Island close to its peak of more than 12,000 registered beds, said Ms Webb.

She said the Hotel Concessions Act 2000 has resulted in $300 million of new investment in Bermuda hotels, sparking a "renaissance" in tourism.

She told The Royal Gazette the extra hotel properties would include: the new Tuckers Point Club which is the site of former Marriott Castle Harbour; Palmetto Palms in Flatts which is awaiting a hotel: the proposed hotel at the Par-la-Ville car park in Hamilton which has been stalled for years: an application to develop the closed Lantana in Sandys: Club Med in St. George's which has been closed for more than a decade; and the site of the planned Ritz Carlton site in South Shore, Warwick.

Ms Webb said she would provide details of the other applications making up the ten, but did not provide more information by press time last night.

According to the figures, the number of guest units will go up from 3,251 as of October 2002 to 3,911 at the end of December 2005.

Ms Webb said: "If all the applications that are in front of me are approved, these are the projected numbers that will come on board.

"If all the applications are successful, that's what the numbers would be. I would not expect that necessarily to be the case, i.e. that all will be approved as they might be scaled back or there might be changes.

"This points to how successful the Hotel Concessions Act 2000 is. The reason people are applying and expanding is because they get a tax holiday.

"This growth is a direct result of the impetus created by the Hotel Concessions Act, and when coupled with the six percent increase in total visitors in 2002, it is readily apparent that this is but one of the indications of a renaissance taking place in Bermuda tourism today.

"It continues to be my position that if tourism in Bermuda is once again to take its place as the main pillar of the economy, it needs to be rebuilt from the ground up."