Shadow Tourism Minister Michael Dunkley has accused Premier Dr. Ewart Brown and his Cabinet of a "supremely arrogant decision" in awarding a new two-year $28 million contract to GlobalHue.

The US advertising firm landed the Department of Tourism contract without it being put out to tender, despite Auditor General Larry Dennis reporting in March that it was previously overpaid $1.8 million from the public purse.

GlobalHue will be responsible for advertising, production, media planning and buying, consumer research, strategic planning and direct mail for the Department until the end of March 2011, receiving $14.1 million a year from taxpayers.

Senator Dunkley said the decision to award the contract "dismisses legitimate concerns that Bermuda was not getting value for money from GlobalHue, particularly in light of some of the worst visitor arrival figures in the history of Bermuda tourism".

He said the Auditor General's findings — including "misgivings about the appropriateness of some payments to GlobalHue", hefty markups from a media agency working for the firm and a failure to provide invoices — raised serious questions about GlobalHue's ability to give a value-for-money service.

"None of them have been answered by the Government," added the Opposition Senate Leader. "Instead, the Premier got his colleagues to give GlobalHue a two-year, $28 million contract to carry on.

"They are, in effect, thumbing their nose at anyone who would dare question the situation. The arrogance is underlined by the fact that they 'sole-sourced' the contract — in other words, they did not put it out to tender.

"This is a matter of grave concern. If the contract had been tendered, Bermuda could have received bids that might have offered greater efficiencies and a better advertising plan."

He said with air arrivals badly down and a recent study showing that just ten percent of Americans were aware of the Island as a holiday destination, there was something badly wrong with the way Bermuda was marketing itself and targeting potential customers.

Sen. Dunkley said: "If the Tourism Minister [Dr. Brown] was interested in considering other approaches to attracting more visitors to our shores, he would have opened up the bidding process.

"That he did not lends credence to concerns that his relationship with the principals of GlobalHue is more important than improving the Island's tourism performance.

"The GlobalHue contract is a poor decision that should concern any Bermudian who wants our tourism industry to succeed. It does not protect the public purse, nor does it give confidence that Bermuda will regain its image as a premier visitor destination given GlobalHue's inability to deliver with success."

The Premier's spokesman did not return calls.