Visitor numbers for the third quarter are up on last year, but air arrivals - the benchmark of tourism's success - continue to fall further behind.

A huge 23 percent increase in cruise passengers pushed the overall figures for July, August and September up 6.6 percent at 199,292 compared to the same period last year.

But air arrivals for the same period slipped back by 9.9 percent to 82,219.

For the year to date at the end of September, visitor numbers overall are up 1.9 percent on 2002 at 409,576.

But the same worrying trend of falling numbers of air visitors is evident again with numbers for the year to date down 7.1 percent to 213,300.

Hurricane Fabian, which closed down the airport for four days in September, was blamed by Tourism Minister Renee Webb for part of the loss of air visitors.

But she said overall she was pleased the arrival figures were moving in the right direction.

"As we endeavour to rejuvenate our tourism product, I welcome the most recent figures as a tangible indication that our efforts are bearing fruit," she said.

"These figures must be seen in the light of our sustained and concerted efforts to re-tool our industry in light of current trends.

"Having said that, I find it most noteworthy that despite Hurricane Fabian's visit, the figures for this period still come out ahead of this same period one year ago.

"We are encouraged by this and will redouble our efforts over the short and medium term."

Based on exit surveys, Tourism estimate visitors spent between $80.9 million and $91.3 million. The average spend for leisure visitors during a six day stay was $974, while business travellers shelled out $1,396 on a 4.6 day visit.

Some 96 percent of visitors said Bermuda met or exceeded their expectations when it came to value and 75 percent they would definitely return to the Island, while 87 percent said they would recommend it to a friend.

And 81 percent of visitors rated Bermuda higher than the Caribbean when asked to make a comparison.

Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell said while the figures could have been worse, there was a continuing worrying trend of falling air arrivals and greater reliance on cruise passengers who spend far less money.

"There are few surprises. Air arrivals were down because of the storm," he said.

"Bermuda Hotel Association was projecting that we would be worryingly behind even before the storm.

"So, it is still bad but it could have been a lot worse. There has been another big increase in cruise passengers and we are headed pretty close to 50/50 which is a very worrying over-reliance on cruise passengers.

"We really need to get more air arrivals to get a better contribution to the economy."