By the Caribbean Journal staff

It’s another strong year so far for Bermuda tourism, according to the latest numbers from the island’s Tourism Authority.

Leisure air arrivals to the Atlantic island are up 13.6 percent for the year, with a total of 168,005 arrivals through the end of the third quarter.

Visitor spending is also up, rising 10.6 percent to a total of $245.9 million.

It’s shaping up to be the second consecutive year of record-breaking visitor arrivals to Bermuda.

“The measurement we focus on more than any other at the Bermuda Tourism Industry is leisure visitors by air,” said Kevin Dallas, CEO of the Bermuda Tourism Authority. “Performance in that area is up 26 percent in arrivals and up 35 percent in spending since the streak of quarterly growth began back in January 2016. By any measure that is a remarkable performance that every member of our team and every one of our stakeholders can be very proud of.”

Officials seemed worried by the slowdown in airlift availability, however.

Air capacity was down 2.5 percent in the third quarter, though it is still up 4 percent for the year.

“Growing airlift has proven to be a precursor to vacation air arrival growth in Bermuda over the past several years,” Dallas said. “If that trend reverses it would be an obstacle for further growth.  It’s something we are watching closely as we do our forecasting for 2019.”