Monday’s front page confirmed news that has already been out for some time — the 2006 tourism year saw a strong upsurge in visitor arrivals, the first sign of real improvement since before 1998.

That’s good news, and no one doubts that a strong and viable tourism industry is important for Bermuda for several reasons: it reduces the Island’s dependence on international business; it provides jobs to Bermudians who are either not interested in or do not have the particular skills international business demands; and it makes for a healthier environment for the whole community.

The amount visitors spend in Bermuda is more important than the raw arrivals figures. While overall arrivals were up by 22.9 percent, overall spending rose by an estimated 17.7 percent, a lesser but still substantial increase. Air visitors rose by 10.9 percent, the highest level since 2000, and their spending, which is more important to the island than cruise spending, was up by 14 percent at $389.2 million. This is significant, because it means that visitors individually spent more than they did in 2005.

A large proportion of that spending was estimated to have gone on accommodation and food, which increased by 14.3 percent to $303.1 million (more on that below). Spending on shopping, entertainment and transport rose by $10.3 million or 13.6 percent, which was more or less on par with the overall figure for air arrivals.

All of that is good news. Cruise arrivals jumped 36 percent for the year, and as has been noted previously, exceeded air arrivals for the first time in decades. Cruise spending also increased by 39 percent to $74.8 million, roughly on par with the increase in arrivals. Per capita passenger spending averaged $212 apiece, compared to $217 a year earlier. By comparison, air visitors spent an average of $1,300 each on their vacations.

That means that it takes around six cruise passengers to equal the amount spent by one air visitor, and emphasises why air visitors are more important then cruise passengers and must be nurtured. Curiously, the estimated rise in air visitor expenditures is not reflected in hotel revenues, which rose 4.5 percent overall, or hotel employment, which begs the question of how the spending estimates are determined. It is also notable that apart from a surge in bookings for housekeeping accommodation, the biggest increase in visitors came with people staying in private homes at 15 percent.

There’s nothing wrong with that, except it suggests paid accommodation remains expensive for potential visitors and houseguests put less money into the economy than paying guests. Houseguests now make up 24 percent of all air visitors to the Island, the second highest group after those staying in resort hotels. Government continues to refuse to break out how many visitors come to Bermuda on vacation as opposed to for business reasons. That makes it impossible to determine how many people are coming as a result of Bermuda’s tourism initiatives and it is dishonest of Government not to make the figures known.

So what does this all mean?

First, Bermuda’s tourism industry staged a recovery in 2006 and it appears to be continuing through 2007 and credit must be given to the Tourism Ministry and its industry partners for that, including the Premier. It is now nearly May, and the course of the year is already pretty well determined. With more air capacity coming on and all hotels (except Wyndham) up and running, it is likely the Island will have a good year, barring an unforeseen event or a severe downturn in the US economy.

Having said that, the benefits of the recovery do not appear to be flowing fully through to the hotel sector, and there is a risk that cruise arrivals — which are projected to have another record year — may be making life uncomfortable for more economically valuable air visitors. The upsurge in arrivals also makes a strong case for the need for more hotel beds — regardless of where they are located, although it is encouraging is that arrivals increased strongly in the last quarter of 2006 and in the first quarter of this year — the so-called shoulder months when hotel vacancy levels tend to be higher.

Now it is up to all Bermuda residents to ensure that our guests have safe and happy visits to the Island and tell their friends all about it when they get home.