The Island?s hotels reported a jump in room bookings for the upcoming tourism season in contrast to last year.

It was suggested this was because of the improved American economy, the weakness of the dollar against European currencies and the more stable international situation.

Cambridge Beaches general manager Richard Quinn attributed the higher bookings for the first few months of the season, which begins in April, in part to promotions such as the companion flies free initiative spearheaded by Government last year.

?The general consensus is that things are looking better,? he said. ?Although it?s early in the game, I hope this is an indicator for the rest of the season. I just hope it is something that the whole Island is experiencing.?

He added that the hotel already had a ?high percentage? of visitors from the UK and Europe and ventured that this might increase with the strengthening of the pound and the euro, which means they can get more for their money.

And Muriel Richardson, general manager of Rosedon in Hamilton, said bookings for April were up a whopping 50 percent over last year.

?This is against a backdrop of a year that was actually good in terms of hotel occupancy. It wasn?t as bad as the year before that.?

Ms Richardson added that small hotels like Rosedon had benefited from the fact that some of the larger hotels had been out of commission due to Hurricane Fabian.

She added that this Christmas season had seen a jump in the number of visitors overall, with January up 20 percent, February up four percent and March up five percent.

Clyde Darrell, of the Grotto Bay Beach Club, said he had a full hotel last weekend and hoped this was a good sign.

?We?re doing pretty good, a little above last year. I am kind of optimistic that this year, if there are no major happenings in the world, Bermuda and Grotto Bay should do very well.?

Reefs general manager Neal Stephens said: ?Bookings are looking very good, they are very encouraging.

?Hopefully in May and June we will be in the mid-90s and to be running ahead of last year just now is a good indication that bookings will come in strong.?

The hotel is 33 percent now for March compared to 23 percent on the books at this time last year.

For April, bookings are currently 40 percent compared to 34 percent last year, May is 58 percent compared to 54, and June is a healthy 76 percent full compared to 62 percent for the same time last year.

?For us, it has all been North American and we haven?t seen any increase from Europe as yet. It?s repeat customers and a lot of good press.?

John O?Brien, Ariel Sands general manager, said it looked like this year would be better than last.

?We?re seeing a bit of activity and February, March and April are better than last year. Things are a little bit better, but it?s too early to say for the year.

?We?ve got a Canadian dollar parity promotion and that?s been bringing in a lot of people.?

Meanwhile, Sonesta Beach Hotel owner Clifford Schorer said things were looking good for later on in the season.

?We?ll have a pretty strong June, but May will be a little bit light. We?ve had a lot of publicity (with the closure) and we?re working on a pretty strong June.

?We?ll have no occupancy for the first quarter so overall we won?t be up on last year as we have fewer rooms, but we do anticipate that the summer season will be strong and the occupancy percentage will be better.?

Bermuda Hotel Association executive director John Harvey said there was hope among stakeholders in the Caribbean that this season would be better than last.

?I?ve just come back from the Caribbean Hotel Association marketplace and all the indications from the suppliers ? the wholesale tour operators in Europe and the US ? is that there is tremendous optimism for this region this year.

?The economic situation with the fluctuating currencies is also helping, although I haven?t yet seen any numbers for bookings.?was unable to get in touch with the general managers of both the Fairmont Southampton and the Hamilton Princess hotels.