A severe winter storm was a factor in the $11,000 airfare incurred when the Premier attended the 56th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, a government spokeswoman said.

Costs for David Burt’s trip to Davos in January totalled $12,528.39, the ministerial travel calendar showed.

Of that, $11,046 was attributed to air travel, $747.38 was spent on accommodation and meals amounted to $530.69.

Ground transportation expenses were listed at $176.07 while miscellaneous costs were said to total $28.25.

Spending for Mr Burt’s five-day trip to Davos during the WEF in 2018 totalled about $7,150, the calendar showed, with slightly less than $3,700 attributed to air travel.

In 2019, the Premier’s attendance at the forum coupled with a visit to Brussels to open the Government’s office there cost about $5,360, with a little more than $3,660 spent on airfares.

Almost 3,000 leaders from governments, business, civil society and academia gathered at the event this year, when the theme was “A Spirit of Dialogue”.

The spokeswoman said on Sunday that Mr Burt’s travel dates were January 17 to 24 and his attendance formed part of the Government’s continuing efforts to advance the island’s international business and economic interests.

“It is important to stress that Bermuda was invited to participate in the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum for the first time since 2019,” she added.

“This is a prestigious invitation and an opportunity to advance Bermuda's interests globally.”

The government spokeswoman explained: “Air travel costs were higher than in previous years due to increased global travel prices since 2018, and were further impacted by severe weather disruption during the travel period.

“To save costs, tickets were purchased for the Premier to return to Bermuda via the United States.

“However, due to a severe winter storm, an issue arose in which a replacement ticket had to be purchased to ensure a timely return to Bermuda.”

She noted: “While in Davos, the Premier met heads of government and ministers of finance from around the globe, while participating in high-level discussions focused on the future of insurance, digital transformation for governments and the role of emerging technologies in building resilient economies.

“These engagements highlighted Bermuda’s leadership as a globally respected international finance centre.”

The spokeswoman added that panels and sessions in which Mr Burt participated included “Frontiers of Digital Governance: From DPI [Digital Public Infrastructure] to Next-Gen GovTech”, “Stablecoin Adoption for Humanitarian Action”, “Insurability in a Changing World” and “Insurance and Asset Management Leadership”.

She said that Mr Burt also held meetings with policymakers and leaders in global finance and technology “to advance Bermuda’s strategic objectives in digital finance and innovation”.

“He engaged senior leaders from leading global organisations, including Marsh, Swiss Re, AXA, State Farm, Franklin Templeton, Aon, Allianz, as well as digital asset and blockchain firms such as Coinbase, Circle, Filecoin and Stellar,” the spokeswoman added.

Mr Burt posted on X in January that he opened the Hub Culture Partner welcome dinner as a guest of honour and speaker ahead of the forum.

It was announced during the event that the Government had plans for Bermuda to become the world’s first “fully onchain” national economy, expanding a partnership with leading companies Coinbase and Circle to embed digital asset infrastructure across government, business and financial services.

The ministerial travel calendar said that Mr Burt led a Bermuda delegation to Davos for the WEF annual meeting.

In an e-mail to the Government’s communications team on Thursday, The Royal Gazette sought confirmation that the costs listed online covered only those related to the Premier and asked about the size of the delegation as well as what were any additional associated costs.

There were no responses to those questions by the time of publication.

For 2026, the only other ministerial travel expenses published so far were for Alexa Lightbourne, the Minister of Home Affairs, whose trip to Dubai for participation in a Global Energy Efficiency Alliance round table on the margins of the World Governments Summit in February cost a total of $1,030.06.

The entry said that the minister’s attendance provided an opportunity to engage with global leaders “committed to accelerating energy efficiency as a cornerstone of climate action and sustainable development”.

Ms Lightbourne was said to have delivered “a comprehensive presentation on energy reform in Bermuda” and work by the ministry to progress alternative energy systems.

The calendar entry added: “The round table, hosted and sponsored by the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, brought together ministers and delegates from a wide array of countries to discuss and exchange views on priority areas for global energy efficiency co-operation in addition to exploring opportunities for collaboration, knowledge exchange and joint initiatives under the alliance.”

Mr Burt — who led a Bermuda delegation to the summit — and Jason Hayward, the Minister of Economy and Labour, were also on that trip.

The Government said earlier that all airfare and accommodations for the Premier, ministers and the delegation were being covered by the Government of the United Arab Emirates, which hosted the WGS.

Ms Lightbourne’s expenses showed a cost of zero for air travel and $543.07 for accommodation. The Government was asked yesterday afternoon for clarification.