Tourism suffered another body blow yesterday as inaccurate American weather reports on Hurricane Luis prompted hundreds of people to cancel holidays.

Latest reports last night showed Luis heading further away from Bermuda with its closest point now at 8 p.m. today when the storm will be 247 miles away.

But early yesterday morning, forecasters on CNN and the Weather Channel claimed Luis would pass within 100 miles of the Island prompting hundreds of calls to local hotels and Bermuda tourist offices along the US East Coast.

Other stations including CBS have used Bermuda as a point of reference to pinpoint Luis' trajectory past the States, even though the grade three hurricane is now expected to sweep 250 miles off Bermuda's shores.

A tropical storm warning remains in place, however, and the Government is urging residents to stay tuned to weather reports even though the hurricane appears to be heading away from the Island.

"I do believe the damage has been done,'' claimed Sales Manager Mr. Ray Cassidy at the Department of Tourism's New York office. "People are concerned.'' He added: "Although Bermuda is not a part of the Caribbean, it is perceived as being part of it.

"The last people hear is that Luis has caused death and destruction in Antigua. In the next breath they hear that it's on its way to Bermuda.'' Later yesterday the weather reports were corrected, however hotel owners believed the US forecasters had made a bad mistake. "The weather forecasters in the US painted an incredibly bad picture of Bermuda,'' complained Pompano Beach Club general manager Mr. Tom Lamb. "People have been cancelling because of the forecasts.

"People are totally scared off. They are panicking. It's really frustrating because we are experiencing dropping occupancy levels and there is nothing we can do.'' Other hoteliers said as they started getting back on their feet after Hurricane Felix, they started receiving cancellations and early departures with many visitors fearful of being caught up in the type of chaos experienced in Antigua and St. Maarten.

At least 15 people died in the Caribbean and hundreds of people are still missing as chaos rules in the wake of Hurricane Luis which struck the islands earlier this week.

Mermaid Beach Club general manager Mr. Graham Jack claimed the hotel had suffered a number of early cancellations, compounding a soft season already rocked by Felix.

While occupancy levels should be touching 70 percent for this time of year, two thirds of the hotel lies empty after Felix washed away its South Shore beach.

Wholesalers in the US have refused to make referrals until the beach is back and a number of guests have cancelled. "Business is bad enough even without Luis,'' said Mr. Jack.

Sonesta Beach Hotel vice-president Mr. Dennis Tucker said Felix had affected bookings through the end of August and September.

"We had a massive check-out with Felix and then people stopped making bookings. Luis is compounding the problem.

"September bookings were off target because of Felix and Luis is not helping.'' Yesterday Delta decided to cancel its two flights today but expects to fly tomorrow and American Airlines said it would fly as normal today although the evening flight in to the Island may be cancelled as winds will then be at their strongest.

USAir has cancelled its entire operation today, but expects to fly normally tomorrow.

The other US carriers were waiting until today to make a decision. It is still expected that Bermuda will be hit by tropical storm winds starting at around noon.

They are expected to continue up to early Sunday morning and will be between 35 and 50 knots.

As a result the Emergency Measures Organisation met yesterday and people were still stocking up on supplies such as gas stoves, flash lights and batteries as a precaution.

The EMO issued a statement last night which warned people to stay tuned to weather reports and asked residents planning to travel to contact airlines.

"At the moment there is no indication that there will be a significant storm surge. However, this is an aspect the EMO will be monitoring closely and those residents in areas at risk will be notified.

"EMO officials would remind the public that Hurricane Luis is a bigger and potentially more dangerous hurricane than Felix and they should take all necessary precautions.

"Residents are advised to stay tuned to their radios and televisions for updates on the hurricane,'' the statement said.