Bermuda's tourism in recent years.

Airport arrivals over the summer are only slightly down on 1991 and hotel occupancy levels are similar to the corresponding period last year.

But Tourism Director Mr. Gary Phillips is refusing to make any comments on the figures until he has the whole picture, which is being prepared by his department.

While visitor arrivals at the airport decreased slightly over June, July and August there has been an improvement in September and October which has given the totals a much healthier look.

Arrival figures in September rose by around 10 percent on 1991 and in October they dropped by less than one percent compared to last year.

The last three weeks in particular have seen numbers of people landing at the Airport increasing when compared to the corresponding figures last year.

Arrivals during the week, up to Sunday, were 6,835, which was 309 more people than the same week in 1991.

Although figures have been promising over the past three weeks the total over four weeks is still 75 down on last year's figure.

Experts feel it is too early to say the figures are a sign of an improvement in tourism and they still expect a harsh winter for the industry.

The Department of Tourism has already announced its discount scheme if temperatures fail to reach 68 degrees on any day over the winter months, in an attempt to encourage visitors to the Island.

It is a plan to stop low winter figures wrecking the total outlook for the year. This year's earlier figures have affected a summer which have, at least, equalled last year's totals.

The total figure for visitors arriving at the airport so far this year is 334,683, more than 11,000 down on the 1991 total for the same period.

But during the period from April until the end of October the change was only 1,612, a fall of just O.6 percent.

Over summer, hotel occupancy levels remained about the same as 1991 in June, July and September although there was a 10 percent drop in August. October figures have not yet been processed by the Bermuda Hotel Association.

Mr. Phillips said that arrival figures at the airport did not accurately reflect how many people were staying in hotels as opposed to staying with relations on the Island.