As if there wasn’t enough bad news floating around, Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert announced on Friday that Bermuda was likely to lose the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, which has been the centrepiece of Bermuda’s tourism and sports marketing strategy for several years.The PGA has now told Bermuda that if it finds a title sponsor for the event, it likely will leave Bermuda.That looks like another body blow for the Island’s tourism industry, but the truth may be somewhat different.As ever, it comes down to money. Mr Furbert told the House of Assembly on Friday that Bermuda pays the PGA $1.5 million to stage the event in Bermuda, and estimates the tournament brings about $2 million in direct spending, which could be seen as a $500,000 gain to Bermuda.Of course, the main point of the tournament is the US TV coverage, where it is thought Bermuda is exposed to more than four million homes on TNT.The financial value of that is hard to measure. How much exposure, for example, would $1.5 million in straight advertising spending bring? Not nearly as much time as the two nights of TV coverage, one would think. More importantly, how many people visit, or consider visiting, Bermuda as a result of the TV coverage?It is interesting to note that Mr Furbert recently talked about the value of the World Rugby Classic to Bermuda.He said Government gave the Classic, held every November, a grant of $50,000 and it brought in $1.1 million for the Island. That is not as much money as the Grand Slam, but a vastly better return on investment, since the Government’s outlay was just three percent of the outlay for the PGA.Similarly, Government gave the Bermuda Track and Field Association $80,000 for International Race Weekend and saw $960,000 spent as a result, again a vastly better return than the Grand Slam.It can be argued that this is comparing apples with oranges because it does not quantify the value of the TV coverage. The World Rugby Classic gets some TV coverage, but nothing like the scale of the Grand Slam, while Race Weekend has no TV coverage outside of Bermuda.On the other hand, no one can calculate the world of mouth benefit of several thousand visitors coming to Bermuda to run or walk marathons and 10Ks.Bermuda could well get a better return if it spent $50,000 to $100,000 on 15 to 20 events rather than spending $1.5 million on a single one.Events like the Newport and Marion Yacht Races, the billfish, chess and bridge tournaments staged here, the Bermuda Festival and the Bermuda International Film Festival all bring participants and spectators to Bermuda for very small outlays.It is worth noting that many of these events are home-grown, as opposed to events that have been imposed on the Island from elsewhere. There is a lot to be said for this. It harnesses genuine enthusiasm from local residents who give massively of their time and effort to make it succeed. And the people who come to the Island to take part or watch these events have the same enthusiasm and are therefore motivated to visit.To be sure, events like the PGA Grand Slam and the late Bermuda Music Festival brought visitors and attention to Bermuda, but the cost of the events is so much higher that it is difficult to justify them.Recently this newspaper suggested that rather than waiting for a new hotel costing hundreds of millions of dollars, Bermudians should go back to renting holiday apartments or vacation cottages. In small increments, Bermuda could restore its bed count and income from tourism.Bermuda can do the same with sporting and cultural events. Instead of spending millions on a second-tier international golf tournament, the Island would do better to invest small amounts in smaller, genuinely Bermuda events.