Approximately 600 additional tourists flew to Bermuda in January and February this year Tourism Minister Patrice Minors announced yesterday.And she said that hotels are reporting a 30 percent increase in advanced bookings through August this year.Hotelier Kirk Kitson said his property, Rosedon Hotel, has benefited from the increase in arrivals. The Rosedon’s bookings are currently double what they were last year.Ms Minors announced in February that air arrivals were up 2.7 percent, approximately 230 people, compared to last year.This year’s figure is approximately ten percent below the 10,018 people who flew to Bermuda in February 2009.The Tourism Minister has previously announced January’s air arrivals had increased by 5.5 percent, approximately 350 people, from last year’s figure.The 2011 January figure is 13 percent below the 7,705 people who flew to Bermuda in January 2009.Ms Minors said: “These represent the first positive trends for winter months since 2007. In fact preliminary pacing results from the Island’s ten largest hotels highlight that there is almost 30 percent more hotel advanced booking room nights for the next six months to August 2011, compared to the previous year.“Some of our hoteliers are attributing the boost in business to increased group bookings, as well as visitor packages being promoted overseas such as the Compliments of Bermuda and Escape to Bermuda initiatives, and this is good news.”Mr Kitson believes the incentive packages are boosting his business.He said the US and UK vacation packages put together by the Bermuda Department of Tourism and the Bermuda Hotel Association have been helpful, particularly a UK package that offers a $500 credit for every five days in Bermuda providing one day is on the weekend.Bookings between now and May are 100 percent ahead of those during the same period in 2009 and 2010, he said.“We have a team here of long-serving highly-motivated Bermudian staff and we are thrilled about the upcoming season,” Mr Kitson said. “We have seen the worst of it now and feel good about our future.“We have 30 bookings from the UK in May, with visitors staying for seven days or eight days and in some cases ten days. We also have 36 bookings from US visitors using the three-night package with one night on weekends. “The Rosedon has 44 rooms.Mr Kitson added his hotel “has always been a bit of a barometer for the rest of the Island” and the he believed the incentive packages have resulted in better advanced bookings than in previous years.Mr Kitson was the first hotelier to take part in the Minister of Tourism’s new Hotel Tour initiative.Tourism Minister Patrice Minors plans to visit a hotel property every week to get a firsthand feel of their day-to-day operations.She said it was heartening to hear an upbeat account of the coming summer season.“The Rosedon Hotel is one of those special jewels that Bermuda has to offer and I was very impressed with the quality of their product offering,” she added“Mr Kitson and the management and staff at Rosedon have our complete support, and I am pleased that they are seeing the benefits of our promotional efforts. And while it’s only two months into the year, our hotel projections for the next several months are cause for optimism.”Next week Ms Minors will visit The Reefs, where she will tour the facility and see firsthand all the amenities the newly completed ocean side property has to offer.Related websites:www.rosedon.com, www.bermudatourism.com, www.experiencebermuda.com