Ticket sales so far for this year's Bermuda Jazz Festival are down, but the high number of overseas visitors mean it will be a success, organisers said last night.

Close to 5,000 tickets have been sold compared to around 6,000 two years ago - it was cancelled last year because of September 11- but one third have been bought by American visitors.

Cybelle Brown, of promoters Black Entertainment Television (BET), said the 35 percent overseas tickets sales was higher than for other festivals the company has organised in the Caribbean and South Africa.

And because raising Bermuda's profile and attracting tourists late in the season was the goal, the festival was proving a success, she said.

The festival, which began officially at Dockyard last night, includes big names such as Herbie Hancock, Marcus Johnson, Bobby Lyle, Angelique Kidjo and Roy Ayers.

Acting Tourism Minister Senator David Burch last night said overseas sales, which include flight and hotel packages, were excellent, but local take-up so far had been "a little disappointing".

Ms Brown told The Royal Gazette yesterday: "Things are going very well. All the production components are in place and on schedule and it looks look its going to be a great show.

"We are happy. 911 had an impact which we anticipated. The 35 percent from overseas is pretty significant. We produce festivals like this in the Caribbean, South Africa and the United States to promote the destination.

"Usually we get 20-30 percent travelling, so that's a pretty good sign that the festival has definitely been successful in meeting the promotional objective, which is to attract visitors to Bermuda in the low season. We are happy with it. We'd like to be ecstatic. We all knew 9/11 had an impact. Bermuda has seen it with a drop-in visitor arrivals so we did not have high expectations, but we've met our expectations."

Speaking to ZBM, Sen. Burch said: "Ticket sales from overseas have been exceptionally good.

"We are very pleased with the results overseas, but local ticket sales are a little disappointing, but we are not unduly concerned as Bermudians tend to wait until the last minute."

Ms Brown said she was confident BET, which has been heavily promoting both the Island and the festival on its stations BET and BET Jazz, would be back next year producing the show.

"As far as I know, the Department of Tourism is happy with our work. The fact that BET brought such significant media resources for the destination and the festival is something that is very attractive and appealing, and I am pretty confident we will be in a good position to produce it next year," she said.

"Bermuda has got an incredible amount of media coverage, more than any (previous) year. It is not just festival coverage, it is awareness of Bermuda as a destination to a very different audience."

BET has already shown a one hour pre-festival programme and ran promotional spots. It has a team on the Island now to film a further one hour slot about both the show and Bermuda as a resort.

In addition, tourism wholesalers selling ticket, hotel and flight packages for the festival in the US, have also done their own advertising.

When asked if she thought the festival will make a profit, she said: "I haven't gone through the accounting. Bermuda is not a cheap destination.

"We are hoping that ticket sales will cover if not all the expenses, then at least most of them. That's pretty much where it's going."