The United Bermuda Party believes the Department of Tourism’s renewed focus on gateway cities helped increase the first quarter air arrivals this year.Yesterday, Shadow Tourism Minister Cole Simons said the 6.79 percent increase in air arrivals between January and March this year was good news.Last week Minister Patrice Minors said an additional 2,000 visitors flew to Bermuda compared to the same period last year. This year a total of 31,779 tourists came to Bermuda, 30,824 of them came by plane.Mr Simons said: “We support the focus on gateway cities such as Toronto via West Jet, Baltimore and Atlanta via Air Tran.“These initiative tie in to our mantra for many years to “fish where the fish are” in already established markets.“In addition, it is important for us to increase Bermuda’s awareness in the target markets within the communities in close proximity to our gateway cities on the eastern seaboard.”He added: “We have maintained for quite some time that the real opportunity for growth is by focusing on the seven month off-season from October to April, where our occupancy levels are low and the greatest opportunity exist.”Last year hotel occupancy during the off-season ranged from 25 percent in January to 62 percent in April.This winter business travellers again made up a third of all tourists coming to the Island. Between January and March 10,548 people flew in for business, 34 percent of all arrivals. Last year 10,117 people came for business.The convention business nearly doubled compared to last year. In total 582 people came to a convention in Bermuda, compared to 311 last year.Fairmont Southampton, which hosts many of the conventions on Island, said the convention business is looking good for the upcoming summer season, along with increases in bookings from other tourists.“We anticipate that the summer months will be extremely positive for the Fairmont Southampton with group, corporate and leisure bookings all on the rise,” he said. “This increased business has enabled the hotel to hire over seventy additional Bermudians this year and we anticipate that they will play a major role in making guests’ stay at the Fairmont Southampton truly memorable.”