Premier Ewart Brown said the value of the International Love Festival cannot be measured on visitor arrivals.

The three-day festival, which was supposed to take place this weekend but may be in jeopardy due to weather related airport closures in Bermuda and the US, has 98 confirmed attendees this year.

The Department of Tourism has paid Oxford Communications $150,000 for the last two years to run the event. In 2008 it brought 98 visitors and the year before that 72 visitors came to the Island for the festival

Critics such as Opposition spokesman for Tourism Michael Dunkley have said the money paid to Oxford Communications would be better spent on other initiatives.

Originally Dr. Brown had hoped 300 visitors would come to the event this year, but yesterday he said the success of an event like the Love Festival cannot be assessed through visitor arrivals.

"The editorial we received last year from the Robb Report and Veranda magazine alone would have cost us more than the $150,000 budgeted for the event," he said.

"The Robb Report is back this year with a number of people for a 'Best of the Best' awards."

The Robb Report is a luxury lifestyle magazine; according to the New York Times it has "successfully identified an often-elusive audience described by demographers as ultra-affluent and defined as households with liquid net worth of more than $5 million".

Tonight the Premier is expected to host the opening Love Festival celebration which will feature the Robb report's 'Best of the Best ' issue. A press release stated: "Showcasing extraordinary items from their exceptional luxury partners, this event will feature the world's finest jewels, timepieces, cigars, wines and spirits... and so much more! You will also have to opportunity to mix and mingle with brand representatives to discuss their unique offerings."

But Sen. Dunkley said he believes the number of attendees was too low.

"It is a far cry from the 300 paying guests that the Premier suggested might attend," he said. "Clearly for the $150,000 paid to Oxford Communications you can double the number of visitors to the Island by just giving away 150 $1,000 travel vouchers to Bermuda,"

Senator Dunkley said. "This type of wasteful spending has become the track record for the Premier and Minister for Tourism and sadly there is little in the way of results to justify the extravagance."

Sen. Dunkley also questioned why a foreign chef was being flown in and what he was getting in return.

Chef Jernard Wells told a Tennessee news station he was being paid an "out-of-this world" figure for the event — though that statement later disappeared from the US website — but the Department of Tourism said he is not being paid to cook at the Love Festival. They added that while the piece was inaccurate it had generated publicity for the event.

Yesterday the Premier declined to comment further on Mr. Well's statements but said the chef had apologised for them.

"While we are sure the chef from Tennessee is very good at his job," Sen. Dunkley said. "Bermuda also has a reputation for great cuisine. What is wrong with having a chef on Island prepare the meal? Is this the way the Premier heeds the call from the Ministry of Finance to trim costs?

"It is very confusing that the Department says the chef is not being paid but that he will be part of the Love Festival.

"We have been critical of the Love Festival in the past and with information like this surfacing it appears our concerns have been spot on."