certain mark proved to be a cool deal for local businesses this year.

There were only 17 days between January 1 and March 31 when the temperature failed to reach 68 degrees as opposed to 30 last year, said the Tourism Department's assistant director of marketing Cherie Whitter.

The Temperature Guarantee Scheme is run by 11 hotels in conjunction with the Tourism Department during the first three months of the year.

When the temperature fails to reach 68 degrees, visitors are entitled to certain bonuses if they are staying in one of these properties.

These bonuses now emphasise adding value to the vacation experience rather than offering discounts as they did during the programme's early years.

However, visitors would not have received as much as they have had in the past with the relatively mild winter that the Island enjoyed.

As for next year, continued Ms Whitter, no decision would be made on whether or not to continue the temperature scheme until the department had met with hotels to review its overall November to March visitor programme.

She also pointed out that the introduction of new advertising and public relation companies would create new ideas on how to market this period.

By taking this into account, it was highly unlikely that a decision on how the Island would approach November to March would be in place before July, said Ms Whitter.