Air arrivals for the month of November were down thanks to poor figures out of the US and Canada which another strong showing from the UK could do nothing to reverse.

The total number of visitors for the month fell 6.69 percent in comparison to November, 1997, after US air arrivals were down 8.6 percent and Canadian arrivals were down more than four percent.

But arrivals from the UK continued to show sizeable gains with a more than 20 percent increase for the month over the previous November.

The number of cruise ship visitors finished up nearly three percent for the period from January to November compared to the same period in 1997.

The news came yesterday in Government's tourism figures for November.

In November, 24,924 people flew to the Island taking the year-to-date total of arrivals to 353,158. In November, 1997, 26,712 people flew to Bermuda taking the year-to-date total for that year to 363,791 -- a difference of 2.92 percent.

Every area of the US experienced a drop in air arrivals for the month with Bermuda's major market in the Mid-Atlantic states experiencing the largest fall of some 14.56 percent or 1,289 people.

Meanwhile Canada slipped from 3,837 arrivals in November, 1997, to 3,682 last year -- a fall of 4.04 percent. Europe fell 6.86 percent from 452 to 421 arrivals.

The UK went from 2,032 arrivals in November, 1997, to 2,444 last year taking the year-to date total of visitors from that country to 28,665 -- a 25.83 percent increase over the 22,781 visitors recorded in November, 1997.

Bednights - a key indicator of visitor spending -- also fell for the month with only 140,886 being recorded. This was a 5.57 percent drop from the figure recorded during the previous November.

This helped hold the year-to-date figure down to 2,147,590 in comparison to the 2,154,728 bednights recorded in the first 11 months of 1997.

A breakdown of these bednights by accommodation for the month showed that only the guest house category registered an increase on the previous year and for the year-to-date, small hotels, private clubs, guest houses and properties with 12 beds or less showed positive gains.

But the average length of stay for visitors in commercial accommodations for the month rose to 4.93 nights in comparison to November, 1997. This helped keep the year-to-date average length of stay at 5.24 nights in comparison to the 5.14 reached in 1997.

Amongst the other good news included in the report, the overall rating of Bermuda as a vacation destination has climbed back to its previous level despite a significant slip in Autumn, 1997.

More than six in ten or 63 percent of Autumn, 1998, visitors rated Bermuda as one of the best possible places for a vacation with virtually everyone else who was surveyed rating it as a very good place.

The overall rating of Bermuda as an Island destination also increased significantly over the past year with 63 percent rating the Island as one of the best possible places for a vacation.

Only 51 percent felt this way during the same period in 1997.

And interest in returning to the Island also increased with four fifths of the Autumn, 1998 visitors claiming they were very likely to return with half of them indicating that they would do so in the next year or so.

Airlines serving the Island continue to report that they are operating at higher than average industry load factors.

Though down four points versus November, 1997, the six carriers collectively operated at a 73 percent load factor in November, with only two of the nine direct air routes having load factors below 60 percent. Two had load factors above 85 percent.