a new report announced yesterday.

Bermuda, which is included in the report, suffered a 2.8 percent drop.

The overall picture for the region was one of modest recovery from a weak performance in 1991, the Caribbean Tourism Organisation report said.

Last year did not bring the sharp turnaround in performance which had been projected, it added. This was partly due to a slower-than-expected rate of recovery in the US economy.

St. Lucia, Aruba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Kitts-Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda and Cancun, Mexico recorded increases of more than six percent.

But arrivals to Guadeloupe were down by more than five percent, while smaller declines were recorded for Turks and Caicos, the US Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Barbados and Bermuda.

Destinations recording significant increases in US tourists were St.

Kitts-Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba and Dominica. Bermuda, along with Barbados and the Bahamas, reported "appreciable'' declines.

"Growth from the US market is expected to continue in 1993, driven by the positive economic outlook,'' the report said.

Tourist arrivals from Canada increased by around nine percent in 1992.

However, since Canadian tourist arrivals had fallen sharply in 1991, much of the growth represented "a regaining of lost ground''.

Destinations which fared particularly well in obtaining Canadian business were St. Maarten, Puerto Rico and Antigua and Barbuda.

Arrivals from Europe were estimated to have increased by around seven percent in 1992, continuing the growth seen since the mid-1980s.

The CTO said the rate of growth slowed appreciably during the later months of the year. The reduced growth would possibly continue into 1993.