Bossino presses for news on appointment of new GTB chief

The GSD on Tuesday said the Government has gone into “complete silent mode” on the appointment of a new CEO for the Gibraltar Tourist Board.

Plans to appoint a CEO who would conduct operations from London were announced as far back as March this year but there has been no public announcement on the new appointee since, the Opposition said in a statement.

“The public will recall that the GSD heavily criticised the initiative,” the GSD’s Shadow Minister for Tourism, Damon Bossino, said.

“We did not and continue not to understand why Minister for Tourism, Vijay Daryanani, thought it a good idea to place the leader of such an important operation as is the Tourist Board, especially during this period of economic and financial crisis, thousands of miles away in London and not where he should be, here in Gibraltar.”

“This is an area of the economy that needs locally based strategic leadership to focus on growth and jobs especially now at this time of dire economic need.”

Mr Bossino said the Government has already spent “what will no doubt amount to thousands of pounds” in the recruitment process when it appointed a UK head-hunter company to carry out the task of appointing the new CEO.

“I asked a question in Parliament back in May as to progress but in his usual dismissive style the Minister refused to say when he would announce the successful candidate,” Mr Bossino said.

“It is now seven months since the initiative was first announced but the position remains vacant, made all the worse when the former CEO retired sometime before the summer.”

“The position therefore remains vacant and the Tourist Board therefore without its CEO.”

“Although I am sure it will fall on deaf ears - as the Minister must clearly be so embarrassed by his fast growing litany of mishaps and false starts, that he has taken of late to ignore my press statements – therefore, I call upon him to provide the general public with a statement as to whether we are any nearer to filling the post once and for all or can he care to tell us whether there has been a change of heart and will he be back-tracking?”

“If anything, at least the electorate deserves this respect.”