Opposition Leader Kim Swan claimed last night that two airlines cancelled seasonal flights to the Island from the US due to "poor projections for Bermuda tourism".

Mr. Swan said that though escalating fuel costs were given as the reason for Delta Air Lines and United Airlines pulling their New York La Guardia and Chicago O'Hare International routes respectively, another factor was partly to blame.

He claimed: "If the passenger projections had been good for these two flights — after poor performances last year — they would have been less subject to cancellation pressures.

"The unmentioned fact in this week's cancellations, according to industry sources, is that Bermuda's tourism arrival projections for this year are very poor.

"The point Bermuda must consider is not the challenge of escalating airline fuel costs, but the fact that Bermuda continues to underperform with its most important tourism customer — the leisure air visitor."

Mr. Swan said claims from Government of a tourism industry in "recovery" were based on "unprecedented" reliance on cruise ship and business travellers and those visiting family on the Island.

The United Bermuda Party Leader said Government needed to focus on the US north-east and Canada — areas which traditionally provided Bermuda with the majority of its tourists in the past.

"The closure of tourism offices in Toronto and Boston represent the declining commitment to these core markets," he claimed.

"It is vitally important that we fish where the fish are. Bermuda tourism for too many years has been trying to develop new unproven markets.

"This was typified last autumn when Premier Brown announced his intention to open a tourism office in Beijing because China, as the Premier said, represented the future. We think the Government should get realistic and focus on what is achievable today."

No one in the Department of Tourism could be reached for a response yesterday.