Numbers of tourists flying to Bermuda decreased this summer, according to a new survey by the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

However, the study reveals visitors to the Island are slightly up for 2007 as a whole, largely because of a surge in the first few months of the year.

Hotels boss John Harvey last night questioned the validity of the research, claiming he had seen statistics showing this was a more prosperous summer for hotels than 2006.

According to the CTO, just over 182,000 people flew into Bermuda from January to the end of July, an increase of 2.4 percent on the same period last year. Of these, about 46,000 came in January, February and March, a rise of 8.7 percent; while about 137,000 arrived in April, May, June and July, a fall of 1.3 percent.

Mr. Harvey, the CEO of Bermuda Hotel Association, disputed the figures, telling The Royal Gazette: "We had a lot of good business in the early part of this year. We had some promotions going on. Things did not deteriorate, they got better.

"I just looked at the August figures and we are up six percent. All the forecasts are that we are up this year. Where are these figures from? What is their source?"

Told that the data had been supplied by member countries — suggesting that Bermuda had provided the information to the CTO — Mr. Harvey replied: "No, no."

The CTO report states that its figures are subject to revision by reporting countries.

Mr. Harvey said the tables he had seen, showing a rise in air arrivals this summer, were compiled from hotels on the Island.

Asked if this summer had improved on last year, he replied: "Absolutely."

According to the CTO study, the busiest month was June, with 38,336 air arrivals, although this was down 0.8 percent from last June.

July saw 37,473 visitors, down 2.7 percent; May 34,471, down 0.4 percent; and April 26,787, down 3.9 percent.

January had the biggest proportionate rise, up 24.8 percent to 10,725; February was up 12.6 percent to 13,192; and March up 17.9 percent to 21,908.

Premier Ewart Brown, who is also Tourism Minister, announced the second quarterly figures for 2007 in a press conference in July, saying there had been a decrease of 1.5 percent throughout April, May and June.

At the time, Dr. Brown said the slump was caused by a shortage of tourist accommodation — particularly following the closure of the Harmony Club and Wyndham Hotels for redevelopment. He declared there was "No Vacancy" on the Island. The following day, it emerged Cabinet had approved a Special Development Order for the controversial Jumeirah hotel scheme at Southlands against the wishes of hundreds of campaigners.

Last night, the Premier's Press Secretary Glenn Jones said the comments from July would still stand.

Bermuda has received a boom of European tourists so far this year, with an extra 10.4 percent from January to July. Tourists from the US went up 1.9 percent; while the figure from Canada was down 3.1 percent. Cruise passenger arrivals in Bermuda went up 10.7 percent to about 205,000. The most popular tourist destination across the region was the Dominican Republic, with more than 2,800,000 air arrivals. Cancun (Mexico) enjoyed the biggest increase, up 39.7 percent to more than 1,300,000.