compared to last year, the president of the Bermuda Hotel Association reported.

Mr. Stephen Barker said May ended with a final occupancy rate of 77.5 percent, which is 4.7 percent below the level achieved in 1994. And it was 6.4 percent short of the 1993 figures for May.

"The results for May are particularly disappointing when one considers that during the years when Bermuda enjoyed acceptable levels of occupancy, May was usually the month that attracted the most visitors,'' Mr. Barker said.

The Association projected hotels will have a 55.8 percent occupancy in July and 41.7 percent in August.

When asked if there were any plans made to help increase the occupancy rates Mr. Barker said: "Each hotel has its own marketing strategies and these are put in place for long term effect. It is very difficult in today's competitive environment to sway the travel plans of large numbers of people in the short term.

"We, the Princess hotels, for example, have strategies to fill in holes or weaknesses in booking patterns that we see developing perhaps two months out.

We target specific markets and working with travel agents, wholesalers and smaller group movers put together special packages and deals to fill in the weak periods.'' Fortunately, he added, this season the Princess has a "fairly solid group base without which the entire Island would have much poorer results. The Hotel Association meets regularly with the department of Tourism to discuss cooperative efforts which are designed to benefit the Island. This is an ongoing process.''