Employment income declined by 1.4 per cent, and the value of imports fell 15.8 per cent in the second quarter of last year.

However, economic data also showed that more Bermudians were employed in the hotel industry at the end of April last year when compared with the corresponding date in 2017.

There were 2,608 hotel employees in Bermuda on April 30, a year-on-year increase of 122, with the number of Bermudians in the sector increasing by 90 to 1,765.

Hotel gross receipts were $129.1 million for the second quarter, an increase of $11.4 million, or 9.7 per cent.

The information is contained in the quarterly bulletin of statistics covering the April to June 2018 period.

The data showed that the value of imports decreased to $299.1 million. The largest percentage decline was in the transport equipment category as a result of fewer imports of boats and yachts in the absence of the 2017 America’s Cup.

There was a $12.4 million decline in employment income to $851.5 million, with the international business sector a large contributor to that. In the IB category remuneration was down $12.7 million due to fewer stock options.

There was also a fall of about $2 million in the employment income for the business services category, while the public administration and defence category was up by about $2.4 million to $107 million.

Air visitors increased 5.4 per cent year-on-year to 92,039, although they spent 3 per cent less than in the corresponding quarter in 2017, at $133.7 million. By contrast there were 196,437 cruise ship passengers during the quarter, and they spent an estimated $31.3 million, which was up $5.4 million.

Declarations of overseas purchases by residents increased 7.7 per cent to $14.7 million.

• See Related Media for quarterly bulletin report