1991, previously judged the worst year for tourism since 1973.

That is the hard fact that sums up a hard year for the tourism business. But how those involved in the industry see 1992 depends on where they were standing.

Tourism Minister the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge prefers to look on the bright side.

"Due to hard work, some innovative thinking and planning on the part of the department, and with the able assistance of the airlines, the cruise ship people and many groups on the Island, like the Chamber of Commerce and the merchant community, we were able to turn what was considered to be a disastrous situation into a more improved one.'' By the year's end he expected business to be down about 2.3 percent. "We're not talking about a bumper year, but when we consider the degree we were down in July or the early part of the year, and the ground we have covered, we have to be grateful for much.'' An increase in business of up to four percent next year was "within the bounds of positive thinking'', Mr. Woolridge added.

But the mood of Bermuda Industrial Union leader Mr. Ottiwell Simmons, when considering what 1992 had brought members working in hotels, was sombre.

"Our members have been hit by the current closures and throughout the year, even when things were peaking for a bit for the hotels, there were extraordinary lay-offs.'' Added to that had been the "demoralising, debilitating'' lack of a wage agreement between employers and the union, leading to Essential Industries Disputes Settlement Board talks.

"It's not been a good year for the morale of the workers. For example, we had two people give evidence during the hearings and they said that they're not likely to encourage their children to enter the hotel industry because the career opportunities seemed to have diminished.'' Mr. Simmons questioned the quality of managers sent to the Island by hotel owners. He said the Government was soft on owners, who had treated workers with disdain.

"It's been a bad period for the workers. Setting the recession and the low occupancy aside, workers have been ill-treated.'' For the major properties represented by the Hotel Employers of Bermuda, the year was an "absolute disaster'' financially, said president Mr. Dennis Tucker.

Mr. Tucker recalled an unaudited report which said eight major hotels lost $12.5 million in the year to September 30.

"We just can't go on losing this kind of money,'' he said. "If we do we will be out of business.'' He saw the EIDSB talks as the major task dealt with by major hotel bosses this year.

"The whole year has been very, very stressful because we have had to spend so much time with the arbitration hearings. A number of managers were tied up when I feel we should have been out trying to promote our businesses.'' Statistics up to last Sunday showed this year down 2.9 percent on 1991 in terms of air visitor arrivals.

But while the first three months were down more than 17 percent, the April to December period held more or less steady.

January saw a revelation that the BIU wanted a wage and benefit rise for hotel workers of nearly 25 percent. The week ending January 12 was the year's worst with only 1,783 air visitors, more than 40 percent down.

In February , insurance company Aetna Life became the new owners of Sonesta Beach after the hotel firm failed to make mortgage payments, while in March Government launched a giant US marketing push.

April brought good publicity for Bermuda in European magazines and news of success from Tourism ads.

May was full of gloom: College Weeks were revealed to have been the worst ever, and Caribbean Tourist Organisation head Mr. Jean Holder told a Bermuda College conference that tourism would not improve until 1993. On a lighter note, Elbow Beach Hotel re-opened after a glittering revamp.

During June , visiting scholar Prof. Donald Hawkins said Island tourism was at a crossroads and had to improve human resources. And meanwhile, Dr. Saul warned visitors were spending less and less.

July started with a strike call from the BIU, disrupting vacations already hit by torrential downpours. But hotels reported full houses for the key July 4 celebrations.

August saw condemnation of hotel labour relations from an overseas expert and mixed results for hoteliers from special deals to attract guests.

A new Government off-season campaign was revealed in September -- visitors would be offered discounts depending on the temperature. The Mermaid hotel went on the market for $12 million.

In October , recommendations from the Bermuda College came through: schoolchildren must be educated about tourism more, prices must be held and cultural tourism boosted. But Mr. Woolridge said many of the ideas were old hat, and placed his faith on a Clinton-led revival in America.

November brought chilling news for tourism: international business had almost certainly overtaken it as the Island's main foreign currency earner. But as this was sinking in, Bermuda recorded five straight weeks of growth in arrivals -- for the first time since 1990.

The EIDSB talks ended in December after 4,000 pages of evidence, including revelations of secret hotel plans to confront the BIU. A fifth of the Island's guest rooms closed.