counterparts bucked the trend.

Fewer Americans came to the Island during August, following a drop in July, contributing to a total decrease in air business of 5.26 percent.

It meant that 32,145 US visitors came, bringing a year-to-date total of 203,024.

Overall bed nights, a real barometer of the tourism industry, dropped by 8.77 percent overall.

The fall came across the board of accommodations, with hotels and cottage colonies suffering the most. The only premises not to see falls were those of 12 beds or less.

The year to date figure for bed nights stands at 1,099,699 compared to 1,164,286 last year.

For the first time in many months, visitors from the United Kingdom dropped, by 13.65 percent, down to 2,600 for the month.

But the first increase in Canadian numbers for a long time saw close to 2,000 arrive -- a rise of 2.24 percent on the same month in 1998.

Cruise visitors continued their upward trend, with an overall increase of 20.41 percent during August.

United States cruise visitors accounted for most of the 41,819 arrivals during the month, bringing the yearly total to 150,134 -- up close to ten percent on the previous year.

The buoyant cruise numbers helped boost the total number of visitors to 80,392 for August -- up 6.63 percent on last year. The year-to-date total is 403,270 -- up 2.23 percent.

Large hotels saw most of the arrivals, 22,525, with small hotels and cottage colonies taking the next largest share, close to 7,700 for the two.

But all accommodations, bar guest houses and those with 12 beds or less, saw a decrease in arrivals.

Meanwhile, Department of Tourism figures show that visitor spending, per capita, during April to June increased from $1,373 to $1,428.