Air and cruise arrivals were both down for 2008, Premier and Tourism Minister Ewart Brown announced today.

Revealing gloomy year-on-year statistics at a press conference, the Premier said the overall number of visitors for last year was 582,980 — down 12.2 percent from 663,767 in 2007.

Air arrivals fell 4.6 percent and cruise arrivals 19.1 percent throughout the year, while those that did visit the Island also spent less. Government forecast a drop in cruise ship arrivals due to work on a new pier at Dockyard.

* For the full story and analysis, see tomorrow’s Royal Gazette.