More than half a million worth of event tickets were sold over boxoffice.bm in its first year of online sales according to software developer and computer consultant Steve Watts.

He said the company was continuing to grow in its second year most recently with the addition of Liberty Theatre.

?We have 3,000 people on our mailing list, we?re the second largest email list in Bermuda behind e-moo,? he said adding that the site only has had more than 600,000 hits since it was renamed boxoffice.bm on June 8 last year.

This week the website that has provided online ticketing for local events ranging from the Bermuda International Film Festival to the Bermuda Culinary Arts Festival, will also add the cinema to its growing list of clients. Liberty Theatre has just agreed to start using the online ticket agent beginning with Fantastic 4, which opens on Friday July 8.

It is the first time the site will offer cinema tickets other than for the BIFF. Mr. Watts said that the advantage to buying movie tickets online, particularly for blockbuster movies that are expected to sell out, is that people will be able to arrange their outings now without having to go to the cinema to make sure tickets are still available.

?They still pick up the tickets at Liberty?s box office, but they get to make their reservation online as opposed to having to pick up the phone or queue up which is what usually happens when they have blockbusters,? he said.

Boxoffice.bm, which is owned by Mr. Watts and Ben Fairn, charges a $1 booking fee so a theatre ticket purchase online is $9 rather than the door price of $8.

However Mr. Watts said that even with other events such as theatre where the booking fee is higher, people are rapidly turning to boxoffice.bm because it is more convenient and they are now comfortable with the security it offers.

The site is also SSL secured with the certificate issued by QuoVadis and it includes interactive seating charts for most of the venues so customers may select the exact seat they want to sit in.

?Our security has better standards than Visa actually requires and it is just more convenient. People don?t have to tramp to the physical box office to reserve and to be certain they have tickets so they can plan ahead and it is a central point for tickets so if one thing is not available on a certain night there may be another option that is there.

?It is getting that way because we have so many events online now,? he said.

While initial expressions of interest from overseas companies interested in the software have petered out for now, Mr. Watts expects that the flexibility of the system will recapture interest as the web site?s reputation grows. He also hopes to see even more event organisers sell their tickets through boxoffice. bm.

?It doesn?t cost people a penny to market events on box office because we add a booking fee and if we don?t sell anything we don?t get any money so we have to work to earn every penny,? he said.