Times may be tough, but Bermudians are as keen as ever to travel, it seems.

A record attendance of more than 2,000 people flocked to C-Travel's travel fair last Saturday and the sponsor has seen a boost in business since the event.

"It far exceeded our expectations," C-Travel owner Carl Paiva said. "That's for two reasons — first, that we are in a recessionary period and second, the venue changed from No. 1 Shed to the Fairmont Hamilton Princess."

The "classier" venue had been more in tune with the aim of selling leisure, Mr. Paiva said.

"The clientele was genuinely interested in travelling," Mr. Paiva said. "There were a lot of specials and discounts offered by our suppliers and they were most impressed.

"They have been to fairs in a city of millions of people where they expect a maximum of 500 people to come."

Mr. Paiva said now was a good time to travel in terms of cost, adding that some cruise operators were offering between 20 and 60 percent discounts, depending on the time of year of the trip.

C-Travel's leisure business is comparable to last year, Mr. Paiva said, but it's airline bookings are lower, probably because of a fall in corporate travel.

Other businesses, including the BF&M, Bank of Bermuda and TeleBermuda International also had a presence at the fair, as did Age Concern and the charity which benefited from the event, PRIDE.