Government’s early release of October’s tourism figures was “an attempt to use half-baked results for political gain” the OBA has claimed.Shadow Tourism Minister Shawn Crockwell pointed to last week’s announcement of a 5.3 percent rise in air arrivals as “everything that is wrong with the Government’s management of the tourism industry”.Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert said when he made the announcement that the figures covered arrivals up until October 25 and that the month’s final figures would likely be less positive due to cancellations caused by Hurricane Sandy.Said Mr Crockwell: “The numbers themselves are meaningless for the tourism industry, which determines how it is performing on the basis of monthly, quarterly and annual results not three-week, out-of-the-blue ‘preliminary’ results to put a gloss of progress on Government work.“Questions have to asked: Why would the Tourism Minister, for the first time, release a three-week preliminary report on October, when the practice is to release monthly reports?“Why release the October 1 to 25 results with the reservation that the 5.3 percent gain in air arrivals might not hold over the last six days of the month because of Hurricane Sandy?”