Bermuda will be “the envy of every tourism destination in the world” Premier Ewart Brown claimed yesterday while officially confirming that the 2007 Grand Slam of Golf is heading to the Island.

As was first revealed by The Royal Gazette <$>last Friday, the Department of Tourism has struck a deal with the PGA of America to play the prestigious 36-hole, $1.25 million event at the Mid Ocean Club from October 16-17 next year — a deal seen by Dr. Brown as a significant moment in his efforts to rejuvenate the tourism industry.

Surrounded by the PGA of America’s top executives in the Cabinet office, who had flown in from their Florida headquarters for the grand announcement, the Premier stressed once again that it had always been his goal to bring a major televised golf tournament to Bermuda.

And as a result of finally achieving that, he said, local tourism was “sure to turn the corner”. When asked what the total cost to the taxpayer would ultimately be, Dr. Brown repeated only that the Department of Tourism had budgeted $1.5 million to host the event, adding to widespread laughter: “And I spoke to the taxpayer this morning and I can confirm that he is delighted.”

The event is expected to generate a considerable amount of revenue for the local economy as well, with the Associated Press reporting yesterday that the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where the Grand Slam has been hosted for the past 12 years, stands to lose $2.4 million in visitor spending and $150,000 in tax revenues.

As usual, the tournament will be broadcast on US cable network TNT, with this year’s event in Hawaii reaching around 90 million homes world-wide.

The advantage of hosting the Grand Slam in Hawaii was that it could be broadcast live at prime time on the American east coast — something that will not be possible in Bermuda.

But Jenny Storms, the senior vice president of marketing at the event’s production company Turner Sports, said Bermuda would still be getting “fantastic exposure”.

“We are taking a close look at our programming schedule at the moment to try and establish what exactly we’re going to do — so I can’t give you a 100 percent answer on that,” she said.

“What I can tell you is that we are going to be promoting the event very heavily and at this stage, we really do not have any concerns in terms of the change of time zones and the number of people we are going to reach.”

Meanwhile, while sketching over the reasons why the PGA of America chose to move the Grand Slam away from the Poipu Bay Golf Course in Hawaii, chief executive Joe Steranka said Bermuda’s proximity to the major financial centres on the eastern seaboard of the United States was a key factor in their decision, labelling the Island “a perfect fit”.

“Golf is a $62 billion industry — $13 billion of which is tourism related,” Mr. Steranka said.

“When we are looking for suitable sites for the PGA Grand Slam we look for somewhere exotic with significant natural beauty... and on an island as stunningly beautiful as Bermuda were have undoubtedly found that.

“But it’s proximity to the major business markets was also very attractive to us. We can very easily bring people down from cities like New York, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and even from our base in Florida to enjoy the event.”

When Dr. Brown first announced on October 11 that the Government was in negotiations to host the Grand Slam, he said it was trying to secure the event for both 2007 and 2008.

But while it was made clear by Mr. Steranka that he hoped to develop “a long term relationship” with Bermuda, it became clear yesterday that they would be waiting to see how 2007 goes before considering whether there will be a repeat.

The PGA Grand Slam of Golf is only open to the winners each year of the British Open, the US Open, the Masters and the PGA Championships. This year’s event was won by Tiger Woods.

No player is under any obligation to attend, however, with world number three Phil Mickelson for example deciding to stay away this year and being replaced by Canada’s Mike Weir.