The Premier today admitted that Bermuda was in for a lean three years in tourism as the industry dealt with the US economic recession and limited hotel capacity and flights to the Island.

At the quarterly bulletin press conference today the Premier announced that overall arrivals for the period of April — June were down 4.29 percent.

Air arrivals in April dropped 12 percent while May were down of 9.7 percent and June saw a 8.7 percent drop, compared to the same period last year.

Premier Ewart Brown said: “We are going to have some thin years; 2008, 2009 and 2010. We are going to have to call on our creativity to keep numbers up. By 2010 when hotels are built, that will be a magnet because Americans are brand driven.”

The Premier said he was concerned the US recession would stop financing for several proposed hotels but so far no developer has pulled out.

He added “It is a concern. I am so glad we got those special development orders through so quickly, without those these developers might have already gone.”

The Premier gave little details about what would be discussed in an upcoming Tourism Summit, which is being held in two weeks to discuss the current state of the industry, but said they would look at shifting resources to Canada, the UK and Europe where there have been increases in air arrivals.

For highlights of the second quarter, such as an up coming conference which will bring 200 affluent African Americans to the Island in November and guerrilla marketing in North America, read Saturday’s edition of The Royal Gazette.