Premier Ewart Brown yesterday defended the $2.2 million spent on the Bermuda Music Festival saying the event was about branding the Island's name.

Dr. Brown revealed on Friday, in response to parliamentary questions, that the cost for the acts at this year's event would be $2.2 million including $1 million in pay and expenses for one of the performers, most likely Beyoncé.

Yesterday he defended the expense, saying the level of performers and linking the Island's name to something like the festival was worth the millions.

"I do not know that we will make a profit," he said. "It's not designed for us to make a profit. I do believe though it's [this year's festival] the best opportunity to break even in the history of the festival

."This festival like most music festivals in the world are not designed to make a profit but they have an effect far beyond the show itself.

"This is branding. It's already known around the world that Bermuda's festival is sold out and the entertainers we were fortunate to get this year we cannot get for peanuts."

He added that anyone focused only on how the money was being spent was "being narrow in their perspective".

The Premier's comments came as Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards questioned whether the festival was bringing in enough tourists to justify its costs.

Mr. Richards said the $2.2 million was a fraction of the true cost which he estimated would be more than $3 million.

He said that kind of spending was "way overboard" if this year's sold out event attracted as few tourists as last year, when 3,090 visitors from abroad attended compared to almost 8,500 Islanders.

The Department of Tourism, which funds the festival, has not revealed how many of this year's tickets have gone to overseas visitors.

Mr. Richards said the October event which will this year feature superstars Beyoncé and Alicia Keys among others was being touted by Government as a tourism development project but the numbers did not add up.

"This event is supposed to be a magnet that should attract people to come to Bermuda who otherwise would not come to Bermuda," he said. "That's not happening. They are spending upwards of $3 million for 3,000 visitors."

Mr. Richards said he attended last year's festival at the National Stadium and saw "empty seats every night".

"There may be no empty seats this year because of the line-up but I think in so far as a tourism development project this thing has gone way overboard.

"I'm sure lots of Bermudians will be very happy that they get to see some of the most highly sought after entertainers in the world today but the rationale for it doesn't hold water at all."

Mr. Richards said ancillary costs for things like marketing, local set-up and administration would ratchet it up by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

He said:"The principal objective is to develop tourism, not entertainment for Bermudians. If an economic case for Bermuda tourism development cannot be clearly demonstrated by spending millions on high-profile entertainers, it should not be something Bermuda should spend public money on."

Mr. Richards said the festival was and continued to be a great fixture on the Island calendar but added: "We believe it has gone badly off the rails as a tourism-driven business proposition.

"The festival must provide value for money. By that we mean to justify the spending of public money the festival must attract enough visitors or so enhance the island's reputation abroad that it creates evidence that increased tourism will flow from it.

"Answers to our parliamentary questions indicate the festival costs are hugely out of line with the number of visitors it is attracting and we have to ask: what has driven this Government to commit to such unprecedented spending?"