to year-on-year figures released this week.

Air passengers arriving on the Island spent $147.7 million in April, May and June -- up five percent on the same period last year.

But Bermuda has its lowest number of hotel workers for years.

The industry counted just 3,852 workers as of April, lower than any April figure since before 1995.

Second quarter trends also showed a continuing drop in air arrivals but a jump in cruise ship passengers visiting Bermuda.

Tourism Minister David Dodwell said the figures could be "confusing'' as more up-to-date arrivals figures were available.

He added: "But I think it's time we stopped judging the success of the tourism industry on the number of arrivals alone.

"We really ought to be looking at hotel occupancy or the number of room nights or bed nights.

"One person can visit for 365 days or 365 people can visit for one day -- but which figure looks better?'' The second quarter figures released yesterday showed total air arrivals down at 122,271 as of June, with cruise ship passengers at 72,276 -- up from 64,926 in second quarter figures for 1995.

The Royal Gazette reported earlier this week that total air arrivals for August fell by four percent on 1997 and 2.4 percent on the year to date.

The August figures showed visitor spending was now around $1,373 per person, with a 20 percent increase in US cruise passengers and 36 percent rise in UK air passengers.

Year-to-date statistics show the total number of visitors at 394,469, a drop of 1.1 percent on the same period last year.