Bermudian Richard Eve is to take over as Tourism's director of sales and marketing for North America, The Royal Gazette has learned.

Mr. Eve, the senior regional manager for Tourism's Mid-Atlantic North office in New York, is to replace tourism veteran Toby Dillas who is retiring.

Tourism Minister Renee Webb said last night she was delighted with the appointment of Mr. Eve, who will help drive efforts to bring in more visitors from the United States and Canada and help in the Island's recent rebranding campaign.

"Toby is retiring and we are very pleased with his replacement, Richard Eve," said Ms Webb last night.

"We are pleased that a qualified Bermudian has taken over as we wanted to look for someone internally.

"We went through a process of finding a replacement internally and we are pleased that Richard was successful.

"We had an objective assessment of all the applicants to identify leadership skills, and Richard Eve came through with flying colours.

"We are very pleased that he was selected and he has accepted the position. He has a number of years experience in tourism here in Bermuda and in the hotel sector.

"North America will see some changes. We are looking for different marketing strategies and we need someone to drive it. Richard has the capability to get things done."

She said the changes had been announced before and were mainly concerning the rebranding campaign.

Mr. Eve has worked with the Department of Tourism since 1977, first with responsibility for Canada before moving to New York in 1989 as regional sales manager for the Mid-Atlantic North.

He is a founding member and vice-president of the Incentive Travel Association of Canada.

Mr. Dillas, who had a long career in the hotel industry and took over the North American job in 1997, is Bermudian.

He worked for 28 years with the Trust House Forte Group in Bermuda and was general manager of the former Bermudiana Hotel.

Mr. Eve was appointed last week and a date has not yet been set for him to take over, said Ms Webb.