Bermuda's New Year's Eve celebrations are set to span the globe with a television broadcast that could go out to millions of people.

A five-minute segment is due to be beamed live to US network NBC at midnight -- 11 p.m. Eastern Standard Time -- as Premier Jennifer Smith ushers in the new Millennium.

And Tourism Minister David Allen said the broadcast could go across the US and beyond as the rest of North America gears up for its final hour of 1999.

Local broadcaster ZBM is understood to have set up a link with NBC and their cameras will relay the action from St. George's to New York.

"There will be hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide, particularly in North America. It really is a wonderful time slot,'' said Mr. Allen.

The fast moving segment will see Bermudian entertainers, Gombey dancers and the famous dropping of the onion. Premier Smith will perform the countdown as Bermuda leads America into the new century.

The Department of Tourism provided a cash boost for the programme, after ZBM came to it with a proposal for the special event.

Last night, NBC were unable to confirm whether Bermuda would form part of their New Year's Eve broadcast.

Kicking off a $250,000 Millennium celebration in Dockyard and St. George's, the events will continue into New Year's Day with a party and fireworks in Hamilton.

Tourism officials believe the jamboree will dovetail into the Bermuda Festival in January, and combined with the World Bridge Championships in the same month, will provide a healthy boost in visitor numbers.

Meanwhile, Mr. Allen heralded a third quarter rise in cruise visitor spending as a partial success.

He added that there was too much focus on actual numbers arriving on the Island, when the bottom line was what the visitor was spending whilst they were here.

"You could have 600,000 people, but if they are not spending more, I would much prefer to have less people buying more,'' he said.

During July to August, cruise passenger spending rose by eight percent to $22.5 million, but spending by air visitors dropped by five percent to $144 million.

Whereas cruise visitor spending tends to be entirely in the retail and service sector, air income also includes the hotels and provides a valuable spin-off to the economy.

Jennifer Smith David Allen