William Billy Griffith, the man credited with improving Barbados’ tourism product and overseeing record numbers in the sector despite the prevailing difficult economic times, has quit his job as chief executive officer of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI).
Today in a press release, the BTMI board of directors announced that Griffith had tendered his resignation, effective December 31, 2019. The release said Griffith had given the organisation an opportunity to recruit a new leader and to ensure a smooth transition as his contract comes to an end.
Chairman of the Board, Sunil Chatrani, thanked Griffith for his significant contribution to the organisation since its inception in 2014 and wished him the best in his future endeavours. Chatrani added that the search for a new CEO would commence immediately as the organisation transitioned into a public/private sector partnership (PPP).
Quoted in the release on his departure, Griffith said: “I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to have given back to my country by contributing to its most valued sector. I am also extremely proud of what we have been able to achieve in the past five years. Barbados is a truly unique destination with so much to offer, and it is with pride that we have worked as a team to showcase that to the world.”
During his tenure, Griffith spearheaded a 30 per cent increase in visitor arrivals to Barbados to an all-time record of 682,000 in 2018, as air capacity to the island also grew by 22 per cent. Total visitor expenditure also increased by 34 per cent during the period to USD $1.2 billion in 2018. Griffith oversaw high-profile partnerships on behalf of the BTMI that led to the introduction of new flights to the island including Copa Airlines direct from Panama which began in 2018, and the Lufthansa direct service from Frankfurt, Germany, which commences on Monday.
His leadership of the organization also resulted in the destination receiving several major awards during his tenure as well as his personal achievement of being awarded Caribbean Tourism Director of the Year 2019 by Carib Journal earlier this year.
Griffith wished the BTMI continued success and lauded its talented and hard working staff. Griffith said he was looking forward to his new professional journey.
Tonight, informed sources told Barbados TODAY that Griffith’s departure was on the cards “one way or the other”. The senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Griffith was being constructively forced out of the position.
“Billy has an outstanding record, not only here but in Bermuda, throughout the region, all over the place. But he was appointed by the last Government and the current one is cleaning house irrespective of how well one is doing or not. Look around Barbados and you can count the chairmen and CEOs that are getting chopped. Some might want sending home but you don’t compromise top producers. Billy’s record at BTMI has been second to none,” he said.
The official said the appointment of Petra Roach as head of global markets basically was Griffith’s “death knell”.
“Roach was Billy’s subordinate and the Government placed her in a position that shadowed the CEO’s. This was duplication of positions because Billy functioned basically as the person overseeing Europe, US, and such, so what was he supposed to do other than leave,” he asked?
Efforts to reach Minister of Tourism Kerrie Symmonds were unsuccessful up to production time.
