Bermuda’s loss of direct flights to the major New England gateway city of Boston is linked to the island’s fall in hotel capacity, according to the Minister of Tourism.

Vance Campbell said he was “confident” that transport minister Wayne Furbert would “put that effort into restoring some sort of direct flight between here and Boston”.

It was a reference to Mr Furbert’s vow that air service to Bermuda would be his “first, second and third” priority as minister.

JetBlue, which operated the flights, dropped Boston for its winter schedule at the end of October. Links to the Massachusetts city resume next May after the service became seasonal in October 2021.

Mr Campbell said: “If you look at what faces the industry, we have a limitation on hotel beds right now.

“We talk about amendments to the Tourist Investment Act — that is the reason why we wish to make those changes, to incentivise investment and increase the number of beds available.

“That feeds into our conversations with the airlines. If we have more beds, we can bring in more people.”