decade when they recorded a whopping deficit of more than $6 million.

And the news prompted further calls for a Government inquiry into the hotel industry from Bermuda Industrial Union president Derrick Burgess.

A summary of the combined financial information for the eight major hotels was released yesterday by Hotel Employers of Bermuda president and Princess Hotels regional vice-president Stephen Barker.

The financial statements for the Princess, Southampton Princess, Elbow Beach, Sonesta Beach, Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort, Grotto Bay, Belmont and Harmony Hall are put together on an annual basis by chartered accountants Cooper & Lines.

The combined unaudited statements for the year ended September 30, 1997, showed a net loss for the group of $6,231,000. Last year's statements showed a loss of $5,623,000.

The news means the eight hotels have now experienced losses in nine of the past ten years totalling $53.8 million.

The trend was broken in the year ended September 30, 1994, when the group raked in a profit of $5.8 million.

But Mr. Burgess pointed out that the combined financial summaries for the hotels were unaudited.

He repeated his call for a Government inquiry into the industry. "We need to have a thorough investigation.'' Mr. Burgess called for a similar investigation last year when the losses of more than $5 million were announced.

"This has been going on for ten years. We cannot let our major industry suffer like that without an investigation.'' Mr. Barker continued: "The key ratio of `income before fixed expenses' -- expressed as a percentage of sales -- is at the substandard level of 9.9 percent.

"The accepted industry norm for this benchmark figure is 25 percent. Anything below 25 percent is considered unsatisfactory and is a distinct impediment to attracting new investment.'' It also emerged yesterday that overall occupancy levels for 1997 were 57.9 percent, down from 58.8 percent during the previous year. Mr. Barker said this level was "unacceptably low''.

Room nights sold also dropped from 541,994 in 1996 to 528,826 this year.

Meanwhile, gross revenues remained static with the 1997 figure at $174,869,000 -- $9.4 million below the level achieved seven years ago.

Over the last two years, capital invested in new furnishings, plant and equipment totalled $56,228,000.

"Costs, on the other hand, no matter how well monitored and controlled, over time will escalate.'' So this investment would end if losses continued, warned Mr. Barker.

"Clearly, owners will not continue injecting additional funds into our economy unless current conditions improve dramatically.

"Somehow, we must create an environment which makes possible a potential reward, in the form of fair return on investment, for the risk taker.'' But there was hope on the horizon for hoteliers and the Island's tourism industry as a whole, he added.

"Hoteliers continue to be challenged with the need to improve efficiency while at the same time working with the community and the Department of Tourism to create a more competitive product,'' he said. "The recent initiatives by Monitor, The Freeman Group and the Marketing Corporation of America are encouraging.'' He added Bermuda had to become more competitive and provide a better level of service at a more reasonable price which were the goals of these initiatives.