The Premier's press secretary declined to reveal how much was spent on five plane tickets to the World Tourism Summit in China.

The Opposition have claimed it would have cost approximately $62,000 for four people to travel first class to China in October.

In a press statement they said that while the Premier had explained how much the sponsorship package cost, he had not revealed the cost of flights.

The Royal Gazette understands that five people attended the trip, though it is not known how many of them travelled first class. Yesterday a C Travel representative said it would cost approximately $6,300 for a seat in economy class, $13,000 for a seat in business class and $17,000 for a seat in first class on flights to Beijing via London. He added that the cost of business and first class tickets did not tend to vary much.

Mr. Jones has previously stated that $75,000 was spent by the Bermuda Department of Tourism to sponsor the summit, which was attended by hundreds of travel and tourism industry leaders from 24 nations around the world.

The sponsorship package included: hotel accommodations for the Bermuda delegation; ground transportation; waiver of summit registration fees; services of an interpreter; breakfast, lunch and dinner each day of the summit; space at the host site to stage a Feel the Love information booth; double page advertising space in the summit programme book; display banners at the summit venue; executive meeting space and media opportunities with Chinese press and BBC World.

It also included billing throughout the event as a Global Partner of the World Tourism Summit and co-host billing for a gala dinner for 200 people.

Mr. Jones was asked on November 11 about the cost of flights and again on November 19 after the Opposition issued a statement questioning the costs of the trip.

Since Monday, Mr. Jones has been asked four times about the costs of the travel. Yesterday he said he would not be answering the question because the Opposition's statement contained inaccuracies.

In their press release the Opposition incorrectly stated that the total cost of the trip to China was not known because of the lack of information on the cost of travel and the cost of hosting the gala dinner the final night.

The cost of the gala dinner was actually included in the items covered by the $75,000 sponsorship package the Department paid.

The UBP's press release stated it would be more effective use of the tourism budget to focus on cities closer to Bermuda: "Marketing Bermuda to Canadian and British travelers makes a great deal more sense to us than traveling halfway around the world to try to convince people to spend two full days travelling to Bermuda when they have other attractive and less expensive options much closer to home.

"The United Bermuda Party believes we need to bring focus and realism to Bermuda's marketing strategy. China is a world away."