The Bermuda Department of Tourism has launched two campaigns aimed at attracting couples from overseas to marry on the Island and the hope is that the memory of their big day will keep them coming back.

"Bermuda has long been an ideal honeymoon destination and, in more recent times, an excellent venue to get married away from home," said Tourism director William Griffith. "Honeymoons and weddings continue to be a buoyant market segment and Bermuda Tourism's strategy this year is to maximise awareness for potential honeymoon visitors."

Premier and Tourism Minister Ewart Brown added: "Bermuda is the ideal place to get married. The combination of our Island's beauty, our new and refurbished hotels and our outstanding service makes Bermuda extremely appealing to what we like to call the 'urbane traveller', tourists who appreciate sophistication and elegance."

The first initiative to maximise awareness of the Island as a wedding destination was the Bermuda Perfect 10.

Promoted on The Knot, one of the most popular wedding websites in America, it invited US couples to provide ten reasons they should get married here.

Ten winning couples will be flown to the Island with eight of their friends, and marry at ten different hotels on October 10. The airfare, hotel stay and wedding is free.

The first phase of the competition ended last Sunday. More than 800 couples have entered and finalists will then be picked and the public will vote for their favourite couples on www.theknot.com starting from June 1. Winners will be announced on June 16. A second initiative is offering UK couples free round-trip flights if they get married in Bermuda this summer.

Mr. Griffith said: "The two initiatives recently launched have been designed [to maximise awareness]. We are delighted with the results.

"The free flights from UK promotion for couples to get married in Bermuda has been extraordinarily successful.

"We have received publicity to well over 16 million British residents in such publications as Travel Bulletin, The Sun, The Sunday Times Travel, Selling Long Haul, GMTV, theweddinggirl.co.uk and Woman and Brides."

So far there have been 176 inquires and five couples have registered for the free flights, two couples have already confirmed.

Prospective winners have to book their stay and get married on-Island prior to receiving an airfare rebate. This promotion has cost nothing to advertise, Mr. Griffith said.

The department has been so pleased with the interest it has generated in the overseas press Mr. Griffith said they are now considering extending the offer to the Canadian market.

As for the Perfect 10 competition, he said it has made Bermuda stand out in a "huge way". "The PR value is enormous and yet to be fully tallied," he said. "Bermuda Tourism has partnered with the Knot with a 12-month agreement for $300,000 which is a budgeted part of the 2010 media plan.

"Ten weddings at ten different hotels is also a great way of showing off the diversity of hotel product that exists on the Island."

He said the Bermudatourism.com website had received a lot of traffic through theknot.com and the competition had also been featured in travel magazines such as TravelPulse and Agent[AT] Home.

JetBlue Airways has been a major partner, donating a free charter flight that arrives on October 8.

Dr. Brown said he was pleased with the focus on destination weddings and he added that celebrity weddings added another element to promoting the Island.

Owners of Gimi florists recently revealed they will be doing the flowers at a celebrity wedding on the Island to be featured in popular US magazine Martha Stewart Living, though they would not reveal the identity of the famous couple.

Dr. Brown said: "For celebrities, Bermuda has the added appeal of having a well-deserved reputation of being the one place in the world where they can be free from aggressive fans and the paparazzi. We welcome and encourage visitors to our Island to take advantage of our new wedding promotion and to consider Bermuda as an excellent place to tie the knot."