Govt defence of tourism record is ‘laughable’ says Hammond

The GSD has said that Government's defence of its tourism record is “laughable” and does precisely what it accuses Opposition spokesman on tourism Trevor Hammond of doing “by taking an extremely narrow focus”.
Mr Hammond said the Government reply to his concerns was ridiculous “choosing the narrowest of statistics to make a case”.
“Clearly if you have nearly two million fewer visitors now than previously there will be less expenditure and less income. For Government to try to confuse people with talk of sampling of expenditure just shows how desperate it is for its failure to properly market Gibraltar not to be exposed. Its investments have been misplaced, its policies in error, it has failed and cost the community and its businesses dearly,” added Mr Hammond.
He points out that the Government statement sees the focus its response “on sea and air travel both of which are up, the latter on the back of the foresight of the former GSD administration in constructing the new air terminal to provide the space for and attract more flights”.
Mr Hammond insists that what Government fails to mention is that while these are up, the numbers in no way compensate for the loss in cross border tourism.
“The facts, as presented by Government in their 2016 tourism survey are simple, in 2011 a total of 11.9 million tourists visited Gibraltar, in 2016 that number was 10.1 million, a drop of almost 2 million visitors