Despite a surge in visitor arrivals from the United Kingdom, overall air arrivals in August slipped compared to last year.

August arrivals from the UK were up by 36 percent compared to the same month last year -- but those coming from the United States and Canada fell by 6.5 percent and 11 percent, respectively, forcing overall air arrivals down by four percent on 1997.

For the year so far, arrivals from the UK have increased by 21 percent, whereas US and Canadians have dropped by 3.5 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.

Tourism Minister David Dodwell had no doubts why the UK arrivals were up.

"It is hats off to British Airways,'' he said. "The extra flight, new plane and aggressive pricing have all contributed.'' He said they had asked BA for a better service and the company had responded well. The new 777 aircraft had more seats and, in conjunction with tourism marketing in the UK, had encouraged more British to travel.

In addition, the success of BA had weaned more people away from other routes into the Island, he said.

While total air arrivals for August decreased by 4 percent on 1997 and 2.4 percent on the year to date, those vistors are spending more money on average.

Visitor expenditure rose by 7 percent during the second quarter of the year, from $1,277 to $1,373 per person.

When considering total numbers for the month, arrivals were up by 4.64 percent, to 75,390 -- helped by a 20 percent increase in US cruise passengers and the rise in UK air passengers.

And for the year to date, the total number of visitors was 394,469, a drop of 1.1 percent on the same period last year.

The highest total number of arrivals in the last decade was in 1980, when 609,556 people came to Bermuda.

Mr. Dodwell commented on a slight rise in the length of stay of visitors, which he said meant people were spending more and in turn, contributing more to the economy.

Small hotels have fared best with air visitors. Their numbers were up by three percent for the month, following seven percent in July, and year to date statistics show an increase of three percent on 1997 -- a rise from 29,987 to 30,919.

But large hotels have suffered, with a 7.68 percent decrease on the month and 2.6 percent fall on the year to date.

Overall, accommodation figures fell by 4.2 percent during the month of August, and were down 2.4 percent on the year to date.

The number of bednights dropped slightly for the year so far and during August.