Shadow Tourism Minister Michael Dunkley believes Bermuda is facing one of the worst winter seasons hotels have seen to date.

And Senator Dunkley said those working in the industry were already feeling the pinch as a result of the lower air arrivals.

"We are perhaps facing one of the worst winter seasons we have ever seen. I believe arrivals figures for the third and fourth quarter will be worse than the first two," he said.

"It is clear that many people in the tourism industry are facing a tough time, calling it a 'slowdown to the slowdown' is smoke and mirrors, people want the truth.

Three hoteliers The Royal Gazette spoke with confirmed they are facing lower bookings for the coming months than they have seen in approximately 30 years.

The hoteliers, who asked not to be named, said they were even seeing a large drop in bookings for the autumn months. One hotelier said he was facing a 30 percent drop in booking in September alone.

Sen. Dunkley also said the lack of arrivals is impacting people in the industry and how they make it through the slow periods of traditional layoffs: "The good months are not as good as they used to be, and not as long as they used to be so people are not earning as much as they used to, which means they are able to save less for the lean months in tourism."

And those working in the retail sector are also feeling the pinch as a result of reduced arrivals. Recently released retail sales figures show spending in local shops is down for the 16th month in a row. The figures are believed to be partially due to Internet shopping and locals shopping overseas, but also a result of less tourists, Mr. Dunkley said.

"Nearly 15 months ago, the United Bermuda Party called on the Government to save the tourism season through emergency spending measures — 'surgical strikes' — in specific markets," he said. "We recommended newspaper blitzes and special promotions to influence potential visitors and said we would support a supplementary spending plan to boost hotel arrivals to make it happen.

"But it did not," he claimed.

"The Government compounded its error by failing to boost spending in key markets last winter, when competitors to the south were flooding the markets with bigger budgets.

"There is a direct connection between the chronic collapse of retail sales and Dr. Brown's mismanagement of tourism marketing. This week's statistics simply reflect the hard and avoidable impact that these policies have had. They are now costing Bermudians their jobs and damaging the viability of many businesses."

The second quarter results for 2009 showed a 14 percent drop in air arrivals between April and June. In total 79,979 people flew to the Island that period — the lowest second quarter since a new method of recording arrivals was introduced in 1980.

Expenditure was also down 24 percent, with air arrivals only spending $87 million compared to $115 million during the same period last year. Hotel revenue also fell 29 percent, with hotels raking in $69 million compared to $97 million in 2008.