Investors looking for up-to-date arrivals figures have been told by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) that Bermuda has failed to submit any statistics for 2009.

As a result the Island is absent from a chart comprising figures across the Caribbean and parts of Central America which is regularly released by the international tourism lobby.

The department has already made its first quarter statistics available to local media.

CTO spokesman Sean Smith yesterday told The Royal Gazette he has had calls from "all types" of investors looking for information on Bermuda, including hotel investors.

"A lot of investors call us and we have had several calls for information about Bermuda. Some call asking for information on a group of countries, others ask for specific countries.

"Investors want real-time information."

Mr. Smith said he could not give specific names of investors who have made requests but said they represented large and small hotels.

Bermuda last reported its arrivals figures to the CTO in 2008. At that time the Island was one of the worst performers in the entire region, with a 13.7 percent overall decline.

Among the 27 other tourist destinations represented, only Guyana saw a steeper drop in arrivals over that period.

A report on the first quarter figures passed on to Bermuda's media in May revealed arrivals to the Island between January and March were down 27.84 percent. At that time, Premier Ewart Brown blamed the poor figures on the worldwide recession.

Yesterday, Mr. Smith said he understood Bermuda figures had not been provided to the CTO because the Island was still sorting a statistical error which saw 2008 figures inflated by 28,000.

"I am aware they have an issue with the system they are still trying to sort out," he stated.

Dr. Brown revealed the error in March. At the time he said the problem had been fixed.

A request for information regarding the CTO and whether or not the statistics given to The Royal Gazette in May were correct, was not returned by press time.

The Royal Gazette understands the Department of Tourism is to release the second quarter statistics, which would reveal how Bermuda fared in the period between April and June, on August 17.