Bermuda recorded the second highest number of visitors in history last year, and a 12 percent increase on 2010.Minister of Tourism Wayne Furbert announced yesterday that 655,236 tourists came to the Island in 2011. That was second only to 2007 when 663,767 people arrived.The figure was made up of 236,038 air passengers, which was up two percent on 2010 and a record 415,711 cruise passengers, which was up more than 67,000 or 19 percent on the year before.The rest were yacht passengers, with 31 percent fewer of them than in 2010 due to the absence of the bi-annual Newport to Bermuda race.Mr Furbert, who has been at the Tourism helm since November said he was “excited and eager” about the future of tourism in Bermuda.However, he admitted: “There are still too many people overseas who do not know us as well as they should or feel the sense of urgency to pay us a visit. It is those individuals who present the challenge, and I am here to tell you that there is nothing I like more than a challenge.”Reacting to the statistics, Shadow Tourism Minister Shawn Crockwell said there were too many cruise ship visitors, who do not spend as much money as air visitors.“Just recently in the House of Assembly the Minister stated he agreed with the recommendation of the Tourism Board that there should be 60 percent air arrivals and 40 percent cruise arrivals,” he said.The figure for last year consisted of 36 percent air arrivals, 63 percent cruise arrivals and the rest on yachts.Mr Crockwell said: “That’s not necessarily good for the tourism product because the cruise visitor spends substantially less than the air arrival. They don’t pay for accommodation or food while here and I have heard some statements that they spend ten times less. So in terms of contributing to the economy of Bermuda, it’s not what we need.”He said he would like to see air arrivals in the region of 350,000 per year, as they were in the 1990s.Mr Furbert also revealed other tourism figures for last year, showing that visitors from the US and Europe increased, while arrivals from Canada, the UK and the rest of the world went down.According to the Minister, visitors from Canada dropped by four percent as there were four fewer flights per week from Toronto during the summer months.Much of the increase in air arrivals was due to a rise in convention visitors, who surged 116 percen tto 6,119. In other segments, vacationers edged up 1.22 percent to 144,513, business visitors inched up 0.34 percent to 45,456 and people visiting friends and relatives dropped 4.81 percent to 36,288.Mr Furbert went on to state: “The performance results of the ten largest hotels that make up 75 percent of all room inventory on the Island also mirrored the positive performance trends for 2011.“Occupancy percentages for all four quarters of the year were positive with overall occupancy percentage increases of three percent, three percent, nine percent and five percent respectively. Visitors’ arrival for January 2012 is up (and) hotel occupancy for February is so far showing to be a positive month with a possible gain of five percent.”However, the increase in occupancies was offset by a decline in the number of hotel rooms and beds available, with the average nummber of beds available falling by 292 year over year.Despite the rise in air arrivals, the number of bed nights visitors were on the Island slipped 0.9 percent and length of stay, a key indicator for spending, fell by 2.5 percent to 6.06 nights from 6.21 nights in 2010.Estimated visitor spending figures were not provided yesterday.Mr Furbert also listed a range of awards that the Island received during the course of last year. He noted that Bermuda was voted the best Island in the Caribbean/Atlantic region by readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine. The Reefs was voted the favourite resort in the Atlantic. The Island was ranked sixth among the world’s top 20 honeymoon destinations by the readers of Brides magazine.“Most recently, Expedia recognised Bermuda as destination of the year beating out many larger destinations because of our spirit and attitude in projecting the needs of the Island,” added the Minister. “So, as you can see, it is not just me and the Department of Tourism out there singing Bermuda’s praises. Our reputation is, in fact, outstanding.”He added: “There is much work to be done ahead, but I am confident that we have the spirit and, most importantly, the ability to achieve success and I call on all Bermudians to not limit your vision by negativity, for the extent of your vision will decide the extent of our success.”