(It feels weird to see "y2k" in a headline!)

Puerto Rico blames Y2K for January drop in hotel registrations

The Puerto Rico Tourism Company's Web site

From Time to Time: Nando's in-depth look at the 20th century

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (March 15, 2000 3:01 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com)

Tourism officials in Puerto Rico are blaming Y2K travel fears for an 8 percent drop in hotel registrations in January.

Among nonresidents of the U.S. Caribbean territory, the drop was even more severe, down 12 percent, the Puerto Rico Tourism Company said in a statement Tuesday. In total, the island's hotels and inns had 137,000 registrations in January.

Tourism Company Director Jose Corujo blamed the decline on "fear of the possible manifestations at the end of the century, better known as Y2K."

Fears over Y2K mounted as computer experts warned older computers could shut down on New Year's. The computers count years by the last two digits, and many experts feared that, when the year switched to 2000, some computers would read the "00" as 1900 and shut down. Few problems were reported worldwide.

(Also reported on Newsday. No URL available other than:

On the Net: Puerto Rico Tourism Company: http://www.prtourism.com

-- viewer (justp@ssing.by), March 15, 2000