bring up to 1,500 overseas visitors to the Island.

The Royal Gazette understands that, so far, just 35 visitors have confirmed hotel bookings to attend the controversy-hit World Conference of Mayors, which is due to take place on the Island in less than three weeks.

When Bermuda was first selected to hold the conference back in March, the event's promoter claimed the conference would bring hundreds of African Americans flocking to the Island.

And Afro American Global Trade and Tourism Council boss Bonnie Marshall promised to put together a $500,000 budget for the event, which would feature a host of major celebrities and open up the Island to a new tourism market.

But last night spokesmen for the Southampton Princess and Elbow Beach Hotels, where guests for the event are supposed to be staying, said that few reservations had been confirmed.

And details of a number of events scheduled to take place at the Southampton Princess, including talent and fashion shows and a special luncheon with guest speakers, have yet to be provided by the organisers.

So far just 35 reservations have been made at the Southampton Princess while none have been made at the Elbow Beach Hotel, although 30 rooms are expected to be confirmed later today.

Southampton Princess manager Allan Trew said: "Reservations are starting to trickle in -- to date we have received 35 reservations, although Mayor Ford has asked us to hold back 260 rooms.

"Under normal circumstances, by this time, with the event just weeks away we would have expected all the bookings to be in, the rooms reserved and the programme of events confirmed.

"Because that hasn't been done, normally, by now we would have released the rooms and tried to sell them on but this is a quiet period and we all know the difficulties that the organisers have faced trying to get this thing on. We're trying to be as flexible as possible -- we're just keeping our fingers crossed.

"But if we don't get the rooms booked then we are faced with another situation -- and that has been pointed out to the World Conference of Mayors.'' Richard Calderon, sales and marketing director at the Elbow Beach Hotel, also suggested that, because of the off-season, the hotel would not lose out if more bookings do not materialise.

"We are holding 45 rooms and, based on our conversation with Bonnie Marshall and one of the mayors today, we are expecting a room list of 30 rooms to be confirmed tomorrow,'' Mr. Calderon said.

"Our hope is to increase that block although we are not the only hotel involved and I understand that the Southampton Princess will pick up the majority share.

"Under our contract we can release the rooms 14 days before the conference, which would be on November 1. If we were faced with this situation in October the rooms would have been released long back but the fact that it's mid-November means that most hotels are not challenged and we can hold on to them.'' But the news could cause concern for union bosses. Last month Bermuda Industrial Union leader Derrick Burgess confirmed his organisation had loaned Ms Marshall $40,000 out of union funds to kick start the event.

Problems over the conference arose after Ms Marshall threatened to sue the Department of Tourism for breach of contract, claiming the department had failed to stump up $100,000 to sponsor the event.

Meeting bookings be made available once Ms Marshall had provided them with a plan showing how the event -- and Bermuda -- would be promoted in the US. That plan was never produced and the department was eventually forced to come up with its own marketing strategy in a bid to keep the conference alive.

Ms Marshall's own business credentials have since been called into question after it was revealed that she had filed -- and lost -- a number of lawsuits in America.

And one US attorney could be asking for an investigation into her financial dealings after she tried to sue a client for racial discrimination.