Apart from the show stopping performance by Wyclef Jean, about the only positive thing that can be said about the 2009 Bermuda Music Festival is that it lost less money than the 2008 version.

For all the pleasure that the Festival has brought local music fans – and performances by Mr. Jean, Beyonce and Alicia Keys have been undoubtedly memorable – it has consistently failed in its primary objectives, namely to attract foreign visitors to the event and to raise Bermuda's profile as a destination.

This was true long before Premier Dr. Ewart Brown became Tourism Minister, but Dr. Brown's efforts to add more "sizzle" to the event has resulted in drastically higher costs without an equivalent return on investment.

The time has now come to scrap the festival and to use the money being wasted on it on more effective marketing approaches.

In 2009, the Festival lost approximately $2 million and attracted a meagre 383 overseas visitors. In 2008, the loss was $3 million with some 1,500 visitors coming. In 2007, the profit or loss has never been revealed, although revenues were $1.68 million and about 1,500 visitors attended. In 2006, the festival lost $1.5 million.

So the Festival has lost $5.5 million in three of the last four years, while the number of visitors has dropped and was never substantial to begin with.

That money could have been spent on direct marketing, or not spent at all. All in all, it is clear that it's time to put the Bermuda Music Festival out of its misery.