quarter of the year compared to the same period last year.

The gloomy news is contained in the latest quarterly bulletin of statistics issued by Government.

Estimated spending from July to September totalled only $167.8 million compared to $187.4 million for the same period in the previous year. That means the combined total spending for the first three-quarters of 1995 is $398.4 million.

The figure for the first nine months of last year was $425.9 million -- showing a drop of $27.5 million on the year so far.

January to March of this year is the only quarter which out-performed 1994's figures with $64 million being spent by visitors compared to $57.7 million for the corresponding period of 1994 -- an increase of $6.3 million on the year.

Yesterday also saw the release of the weekly visitor arrival figures for the week ending on Christmas Eve.

There were a total of 4754 visitors, up 33 (0.7 per cent) on the same week in 1994.

But the figures for the year to Christmas Eve show a slide of 5.6 per cent on last year.