The Premier's four day trip to India cost $37,000 but he believes the benefits will far out weigh the costs.

In the House of Assembly last night Premier Ewart Brown said it cost $37,040 for his executive aide and him to attend last month's trip to India. This included airfare, which was $28,370, hotels, transport and per diems.

One of the benefits will be that the Indian Government will pay for Bermudian civil servants to travel across the world and attend training courses.

The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) course is usually reserved for civil servants from developing nations but Dr. Brown said he was able to make a connection with the Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, who in turn offered Bermudians the chance to attend.

The ITEC courses run between four and 53 weeks and allows countries to share knowledge and research in certain fields. Dr. Brown said it could involve Bermudians — including MPs and civil servants — attending courses in subjects such as IT and medicine in India. There are 5,000 people admitted a year and the Government of India pays for the attendees travel, housing and gives them a stipend.

Dr. Brown also highlighted the possibility of a Bollywood film being shot on the Island and credited the memorandums signed with Whistling Woods Institute and the film industry for making that possible.

"Having signed the MOU earlier in the day, I am pleased to advise that on this occasion [Rajkumar] Hirani [a top film director] indicted that he had researched Bermuda, was impressed with its beauty and considered that significant song sequences' which are integral parts of any Bollywood feature could be filmed on our shores," Dr. Brown said.

He added with over 20 million Indians live outside the country but many still watch Bollywood movies and go to places highlighted in them

"Switzerland is among those locations that have seen double digit increases in tourism numbers directly as a result of Bollywood activity," he said.

Tourism was also promoted on the trip with Dr. Brown saying 500 new contacts were made at the Outbound Travel Mart, which was attended by 20,000 people in Mumbai.