TOURISM DIRECTOR SUSPENDED

GRENADA BOARD OF TOURISM CONTINUES ITS REVIEW

St. George, December 8, 2009 Director of Tourism with the Grenada Board of Tourism, William Joseph, has been placed on a two-week suspension while an investigation continues into the failure of his agency to greet the inaugural flight of Sunwing Airline two weeks ago.

Following what was an unusual departure from the normal practice of welcoming inaugural flights into Grenada, Joseph and the GBT's head of marketing, Raelene Lazarus both came under severe criticism -- both from the general public and tourism stakeholders. 

Much of this stemmed from efforts on the part of Ms. Lazarus to explain away why no officials of the GBT were on hand to welcome the flight.

Although new arrivals have traditionally been officially welcomed by the Grenada Board of Tourism, it is now becoming apparent that there is no published protocol saying that this should be so. 

Yet, high profile industry officials --- including Chairman of the Airlift Committee, Michael McIntyre; retired airline and travel industry executive, Bill Otway and President of the Grenada Hotel and Tourism Association, Russ Fielden, along with others --- have voiced grave disappointment that the courtesy was not extended on such a crucial occasion.