No BTMI head yet

Despite suggestions to the contrary, the post of the chief executive officer of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) has not yet been filled.

This was confirmed by both Minister of Tourism Senator Lisa Cummins and interim Chief Executive Officer of the BTMI Craig Hinds who denied any knowledge that the authority had found a replacement to fill the position that has been vacant for almost two years since former CEO William Billy Griffith resigned. Griffith held the post of CEO from the inception of the BTMI in 2014 until he resigned in 2019.

Speaking to Barbados TODAY via telephone today, Senator Cummins said that she was not aware the position was filled and noted that she believed if such had taken place that the BTMI would have issued a statement. When pressed for a comment Hinds reiterated: “I have no clue about what you are speaking about. . . . I am not aware of what you are talking about.”

Their comments come on the heels of former tourism minister Richard Sealy, expressing his concern that the in-house talent at the BTMI was being sidelined for external options. He told Barbados TODAY that having invested in cultivating homegrown tourism experts, he was worried that the authority has sabotaged itself by facilitating the exodus of these professionals.

He contended that as Barbados attempts to get its tourism product on good footing, among the fundamentals it ought to engage is utilising all its talents, namely the people.

Sealy said: “What concerns me more . . .  is that we had a good team at Barbados Tourism [Marketing Inc. ] and we spent some time recruiting new talent but also training and retraining the talent that was there such that we could create career paths within the organisation.

“I believe where we have messed up is where we have allowed a lot of people to now go and be employed in other jurisdictions. . . . I understand now that some German is supposed to come in and be CEO. Almost two years after Billie has left they finally decide to put a CEO at BTMI. I don’t understand that thinking. That is recalcitrant,” Sealy charged.

“But having said that it is not the nationality of the individual, it is just that I thought we had enough talent within, that we could create career paths and not have the situation where all the time everybody sees these people coming in at the top and therefore you don’t see any hope of moving ahead. So I hope that some attention could be paid to the issue of retaining staff and creating career paths within the organisation,” he added.

This past April, BTMI lost one of its most visible faces, veteran tourism executive Petra Roach. Roach, who was Head of Global Markets, acted in the capacity of CEO for six months before resigning. Later that month she announced she would be taking on the role of CEO of the Grenada Tourism Authority. In June, Craig Hinds was announced as the new interim CEO having served at the organization as chief financial officer from January 2020. (KC)