Air arrivals for October were up more than five percent compared to the same month last year, according to preliminary figures released by the Tourism Ministry.However Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert said the final figures for the month may be less positive due to the devastating impact of Hurricane Sandy.In a statement released yesterday, a Ministry spokesman said preliminary results showed that 17,472 passengers visited Bermuda by air, a 5.3 percent increase.“Minister Furbert believes that we are seeing an increase because the Government National Tourism Plan is working and that the new ‘So Much More’ brand push was paying dividends,” the statement said.“This evidence supports the feedback from some hoteliers that they had a good October, and that hotel projections, compared to last year, are up.“The Minister, however believes that when the remaining figures come in for October, they will show that the recent Hurricane Sandy will have had a negative impact on the final October numbers.”The statement added that the Ministry is paying very close attention to the recovery efforts currently being waged in the New York and Boston area, and the Department team is working on plans to minimise the potential fallout of business from Bermuda’s largest market.John Harvey of the Bermuda Hotel Association said that while hotel occupancy rates for September showed a positive trend, he was also concerned about the impact of Hurricane Sandy.“The BHA occupancy report is not completed for October 2012 but I can share that for the month of September 2012 we had 54 percent occupancy against 51 percent for 2011 and 48 percent for 2010,” he said.“I am however very concerned about the impact that Hurricane Sandy will have on our business going forward as that region is our biggest supplier in the USA.”Several hotels reported that in the aftermath of the storm they experienced cancelled bookings and visitors checking out early.