who aren't even on vacation.

The business visitor -- here for a convention, a top-level meeting or a company morale-booster -- may not be as visible as the traditonal mainstay of the industry.

But business is good business for the Island's hoteliers, who have steadily built on the US-Bermuda tax treaty signed in the late 1980s which gave meetings in Bermuda the same tax breaks as those in the US.

"Some people specifically call us with the treaty as an opener and we take it from there,'' said Mr. Paul Zar, Tourism's North American sales director.

"It's been one of our key messages for this particular market.'' Hundreds of business meetings take place in Bermuda every year, and it seems this year could see even more.

"We're doing well at the moment,'' Mr. Zar said yesterday. "We see a noticeable pick-up in enquiries.'' He said a big recent catch for Bermuda is top Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs, which is joining giant Dow Chemical at the Princess in Hamilton for a series of negotiations.

"We have definitely seen more and more of this type of thing,'' he said.

What pleases tourism chiefs is that big business groups seem to like Bermuda when the weather's moderate, too.

"It's perfect business for our November to March season because it's not weather-senstive,'' said Mr. Zar. "Business people are much more tolerant of cooler weather than vacationers. They want a pleasant atmosphere.'' Another benefit is that business tourism doesn't seem to follow the wilder ups and downs of the broader industry.

"It's more impervious to changes and fluctuations, the vagaries of the marketplace,'' Mr. Zar said. "And it's high revenue business. These companies, like Goldman Sachs, want excellent service and they're willing to pay for it.

"It makes a substantial contribution.'' Bermuda's hotels are also attracting business meetings with new facilities.

And it's not just the Princesses and Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort that are pulling in the trade. Smaller properties like Cambridge Beaches are also getting a share.

Mr. Zar believes such tourism is now level with the late 80s or maybe even better. It dipped slightly with the recession in 1991 and 1992, but not as badly as leisure tourism. And it now seems to be bouncing back.

"As recently as last fall, going into this year, it's really starting to pick up.

"With the tax situation, the proximity of the Island really works. For a New York company, for example, it takes longer to get to some of their mainland meeting places than it does to get back and forth to Bermuda.

"We point out to them it's just as convenient and practical for them to meet in Bermuda as in the US. Business people like the efficiency and high level of service in Bermuda -no Island can touch us for telecommunications.

"We offer the sophistication of a mainland location. Not even Hawaii can make that claim.

"And once they come, the trend is to come back.'' Sixty percent of business at the Southampton Princess is from groups, and conventions can take up 450 or 500 rooms. The Hamilton Princess devotes two floors to business travellers, making what general manager Peter Komposch calls a "little hotel within a hotel''.

Marriott's Castle Harbour has landed prestige conferences like a major international investment seminar later this month, followed by an American Bar Association meeting.

And over at Sonesta Beach, said president Mr. David Boyd, group business this year looks like being 30 percent better than last year.

Recent bookings have included the New Jersey Dental Association, Xerox, a group of Maine accountants and a gathering of sewing machine salesmen.

"We're doing extremely well,'' said Mr. Boyd. "There's been some renewed enthusiasm for travel, and commercial confidence is greater.

"We have also done some adjustment to our rates to widen the scope of our market.'' "These groups would not be here if we didn't have the tax advantage. They wouldn't be able to afford it.

"They can do a meeting here for about the same price as they could do it in New York City or Cape Cod or Florida.

"They do spend an awful lot of money. They're out on the golf courses, on taxi tours and boat cruises, and they go to restaurants.

"Our philosophy is that we need to get the hotel full and occupied and make fat cats out of our employees.''