Air arrivals for the month of April climbed while cruise ship arrivals fell, the latest Government visitor statistics show.

The figures were attributed to high load factors on flights and only four regularly scheduled cruise ships calling into port for the month.

The six airlines serving Bermuda directly recorded extremely high load factors for the month of April.

Collectively they scheduled 249 commercial flights to Bermuda representing almost 53,800 available seats. Eighty-three percent of those seats were filled compared to 75 percent in April, 1997.

The 1.6 percent increase in air arrivals for the month cut the overall decline in visitor arrivals for the first third of the year to 3.1 percent to just over 87,900. For the first quarter, arrivals were down by six percent.

Year-to-date, figures for arrivals from the US, Canada, Europe and the rest of the world were down by 4.4, 0.9, 13.2 and 17.2 percent respectively.

Only UK arrivals were up -- by 17.6 percent or some 1,000 people -- for the period.

This fall was reflected in the decline in first quarter visitor expenditure which dropped ten percent from $54 million in 1997 to $48.6 million this year.

However the monthly increase represented over 500 additional visitors for the period and directly benefited Bermuda's hoteliers as the number of visitors staying in commercial properties increased 2.1 percent for the month.

Large hotels reported a 4.4 percent increase and smaller properties and guest houses experienced increases of 10.9 and 6.9 percent respectively.

Cottage colony, private club and housekeeping cottage figures slipped 6.2, 0.5 and 13.5 respectively.

The average length of stay for these visitors also increased slightly from 5.08 nights in April, 1997, to 5.14 nights in April, 1998. Bednights for the month -- the best indicator of visitor spending -- rose two percent from 202,380 to 206,447.

Meanwhile the number of visitors staying with friends or relatives dropped 1.5 percent.

Elsewhere, cruise arrivals for the month plummetted by 20.5 percent versus April of last year and the year-to-date total was down 17.7 percent versus the same period last year.

This was attributed to Royal Caribbean's Song of America not starting its 1998 season in Bermuda until May.

Another factor contributing to drops in local tourism which was reflected in visitor survey findings is that the number of guests to the Island who felt they got their money's worth dropped from 63 percent last year to 55 percent this year.

Following that trend is the drop in Bermuda's overall rating as a vacation spot. Only 45 percent of visitors rated the Island as one of the best possible places for a vacation compared to 51 percent in the same period last year.