Almost 5,000 New York area television viewers have flooded WPIX-TV with contest entries, trying to win a trip to Bermuda.

The Bermuda Department of Tourism (BDOT) launched a promotional partnership with PIX11 Morning News April 20th. As of April 26th, 4,617 entries had been received. Premier Brown:

The promotion is creating good buzz for Bermuda Tourism in our number one catchment area. Having Bermuda’s scenic beauty play out in moving pictures and sound, during a non-commercial segment, is a winning marketing strategy. Our team in New York has done well to secure this outstanding placement.

Not only is this promotion paying off for Bermuda, it's an incredible deal for Bermuda's taxpayers.

No BDOT advertising money was used to secure the giveaway partnership with WPIX. The trip giveaways were made possible with the help of private sector partners at JetBlue and the Bermuda Hotel Association. BDOT paid for the travel of a WPIX crew to visit Bermuda to capture footage and interviews being used in the promotion. This is clearly a tremendous deal for the taxpayers of Bermuda.

Since the start of the promotion one week ago, on air mentions of Bermuda during the PIX11 Morning News and station commercials have resulted in an estimated audience of 1.17 million viewers and an estimated media value of $10,000.

While the biased media may sneer and attack, they can't argue that the private sector wouldn't be investing in the PIX partnership if they didn't believe wholeheartedly that it would increase their bottom lines and help Bermuda's economy as a whole.