Senator Michael Dunkley said he would not have the “testicular fortitude” to “spin” the second quarter tourism statistics the way Premier Ewart Brown did earlier this week,

Sen. Dunkley, who speaks on tourism for the United Bermuda Party, said this year’s figures were “nothing to brag about”, particularly as they were comparing air arrivals to the worst year on record.

On Wednesday Premier Ewart Brown said: “All sectors of our industry have been operating at full capacity, and I think it is safe to say that the season has gotten off to a wonderful start.

“I am particularly excited because despite the challenges being experienced in the global tourism environment we have some very good news to share.

“Please pay strict attention to this information because by the time you see it in print it could have a negative slant.”

He announced air, cruise and yacht arrivals were up compared to last year. Cruise arrivals were actually the highest they have ever been between April and June while air arrivals were up three percentage points compared to last year, the worst year on record.

Last year 74,979 people flew to the Island in the second quarter. This was a 14 percentage point drop from the 87,445 tourists who flew here during the same period in 2008.

This year 77,512 people flew to the Island, just three percentage points higher than 2009’s figure but still 11 percentage points lower than in 2008.

Sen. Dunkley said this year’s announcement was similar to the Premier’s “absurd” comment made during the second quarter last year, that there was “a slowdown to the slowdown” when it came to declining arrivals.

He said: “This is the same quarter, last year’s second quarter, which was the lowest since a modern recording system was introduced by the Department of Tourism in 1980.

“This is the same quarter which the Minister uses as comparison during the press conference on Wednesday, 2008 was one of the worst years in the history of tourism air arrivals, 2009 was worse and even an improvement in 2010 over 2009 is nothing to brag about.

“I wouldn’t have the testicular fortitude to spin it the way he did.”

He added the Premier’s announcement that hotel occupancy had increased 11 percentage point, and averaged 69 percent during the three month period, also failed to paint a clear picture of the state of the industry.

Bermuda has lost 235 hotel rooms in the past 12 months. Within the past decade the number of hotel rooms registered with the Bermuda Hotel Association has fallen from 3,308 in 2000 to 2,251 hotel rooms this year.

“Hotel occupancy is not as strong a barometer as it once was due to the shrinking bed count over the past years and in fact that statistic is relatively useless during these tough times especially when many rooms are sold at severely discounted rates,” Sen. Dunkley said. “This could result in compounding a hotel’s financial situation or make it hard to raise rates in the future to levels that are sustainable to the industry’s survival.”

He added: “Premier Brown must stop trying to shift the blame for his failed policies or trying the usual spin to put a gloss on his poor performance and undelivered promises.

“In one of his last quarterly reports on the tourism it would have been more appropriate to put truth before spin and provide a synopsis of his ‘flop and fizzle’.”