Thirteen hours before Tourism Minister Renee Webb denied that the company representing Bermuda in Europe had been replaced, Communications in Business Ltd. (CiB) was e-mailing its “partners and friends” to inform them it had lost the account, The Royal Gazette has learned.

The e-mail, obtained yesterday by The Royal Gazette, stated:“As you may have been aware, after 15 years of working on the account, CiB (Communications in Business Ltd) have not had their account renewed by the Government of Bermuda.”

“This has certainly been a sad and emotional period for us, as the team here at the Bermuda Tourism offices, Wendy, Karen, Victoria, Laura, Jeremy, Ian & myself have worked hard to increase business to the Island and have thoroughly enjoyed working with you and the rest of the travel industry!”

The e-mail, which CiB marketing manager Maja Griffith confirmed she sent, did not specify when the contract had been terminated or to whom the account was given.

It was sent to CiB friends and partners at 11.48 a.m. London time (7.48 a.m. Bermuda time) on Tuesday, April 22.

But when Minister Webb spoke to The Royal Gazette at around 9 p.m. Bermuda time on Tuesday evening, she said: “ (The VSB story) is completely false... CiB still have the contract and we haven't signed off to anyone else.”

Ms Webb was contacted following a VSB News report that she had fired CiB and replaced them with a company based in Munich, London and Sydney called Mangum Management, run by former CiB employee Keith Mangum.

However when asked to confirm this on Tuesday, Ms Webb told The Royal Gazette: “I have never heard of that person (Keith Mangum) in my life.”

Last night Ms Webb clarified: “CiB have the contract until June 1 and we are negotiating with one of two other companies currently. We will award the contract by the end of May hopefully.”

Maintaining her position that the VSB news story was completely false, Ms Webb confirmed that CiB will not have their contract with the Bermuda Government renewed. However: “They (CiB) still have the contract. It hasn't been awarded yet. This is what I told you. Nothing's changed - that information (stating that Mangum had been awarded the contract) is wrong.”

Mangum Management is the parent company of London-based representation, public relations, marketing and sales company Hills Balfour Ltd - a company whose managing director, Amanda Hills Balfour, reportedly lived in Bermuda for some time. Neither Ms Hills Balfour nor PR manager Kevin Harris from Hills Balfour were available for comment yesterday.

The company, the source said, is now doing due diligence for Bermuda before handing the account over to Mangum. CiB's Maja Griffith declined to comment further on the issue, and CiB director Ian Parker could not be contacted yesterday.

The UK/European tourism market which CiB has handled for the past 15 years has been the one area in the last several years that Bermuda has seen growth in. Visitor arrivals from the UK increased by 7.6 percent in 2002 over 2001, and from Europe they increased by 7.5 percent for the same time period. In 1999, figures increased by 20 percent from that market, on average annually they have grown by five to seven percent.

“So why change it? ” said Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell. “Why would we interfere, especially at the last minute?”

Saying people in Bermuda were happy with CiB, he added that while he believed a review after 15 years was more than appropriate and fair, it was the process Government used to do it which was the problem.

“The complaint I've heard from a large number of people is that it was at the last minute and it was not handled properly,” he said. “It needs to be started a long way in advance, giving everybody notice that you are doing a review and are looking for potential new companies which may include the old one.”

When he was told of an advertisement Government took out in the London paper Evening Standard several months ago asking people to tender, Mr. Dodwell said: “A couple of months is not enough. The niche market of Europe is perfect for Bermuda. They are high end, exactly the market Renee Webb wants. So why fix what isn't broken?”

“Now there is a new company on with a big learning curve at the beginning of the (tourism) season,” Mr. Dodwell said, adding that he was not against Mangum or CiB but the process itself. “If they were getting rid of the old surely as the Government they would tell us who the new is,” he said. “Give us the full picture of what happened here.”

“We looked at all our overseas agencies and all were reviewed,” Ms Webb said. “They were all awarded to new companies and this is the last one left. We interview and select the best company for the job. They have had a good run with the Government.”