Sparks flew at the start of the Guam Visitors Bureau board of directors meeting on Thursday, where GVB’s president lost his temper over the Guam Recovery Plan released two weeks ago and accused the chair of bullying.
GVB President Carl Gutierrez took offense at statements made by board Chair George Chiu, who disapproved of statements Gutierrez made recently in a letter to Guam Economic Development Authority Administrator Melanie Mendiola, in which he laid blame on local businesses for the stagnant tourism economy because of the inability to live up to GVB’s marketing efforts.
“We are supposed to be working together in a cooperative environment and spirit and to see that not happening as the chairman of the board is disappointing for me and to see the exchanges that happened, especially in regards to the tourism sector and tourism industry. We’re the Guam Visitors Bureau, our job is to promote tourism and to see some of the comments that are being made in the media regarding that the businesses in this industry are undermining the efforts of the GVB management to improve tourism is really very disappointing, sir,” Chiu said to Gutierrez.
Chiu referenced statements Gutierrez made that GVB has “fielded” many negative comments about “old and tired hotel facilities, poor food quality, high restaurant prices for value and service, and deplorably maintained retail and restaurant facilities.”
But Chiu shared some of the challenges that even hotels with money face.
“We have Pika best … Tsubaki, the No. 1 hotel voted by Pika’s Best has to shut down their buffet, dinner buffet twice a week. We have Crowne Plaza Hotel, voted the No. 2 hotel in Guam by Pika’s Best, having to shut down their buffet three times a week. Both of these hotels have invested millions of dollars into the hotel industry, and they’re shutting down their dinner buffet, not because of lack of financial investment, because of lack of tourists,” the chair stressed.
Two weeks ago, a Guam Recovery Plan put forth by a collective of tourism executives and industry professionals and organizations was shared during a board meeting, which was attended by Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, who asked that the board and management work to incorporate the Guam Recovery Plan into GVB management’s Tourism Recovery Plan.
Gutierrez took issue with the GVB board presenting the Guam Recovery Plan that didn’t involve the management.
“Many of you in the industry are sitting here, why the hell do you need (Mark) Baldyga to come in here and give you a plan when you should be developing the plan, you guys all in the industry,” Gutierrez said. “You, the board of directors, tell us what you want. You don’t take somebody from out in the street and say, ‘here, take this,’ it’s an orchestrated thing.”
A heated Gutierrez yelled at Chiu, who said board members are not children to be yelled at, and attempted to establish order during the meeting, but Gutierrez was not finished speaking.
“You were yelling, what’s wrong with you, you started the yelling. … You’re not going to bully me, none of these guys from the outside is going to bully me. You know that I protect the people’s resources,” Gutierrez said.
“We made it very clear that that report was to view as a benchmark for you and your team to come up with to help you and the management,” Chiu said, noting that no one was bullying Gutierrez.
GVB Vice Chair Joaquin Cook was assigned to the Tourism Recovery Task Force. Although he was not present at the meeting, he noted that he could “feel the heat and passion in the room.”
“I just wanted to say in response to the report, the report was authored by a group. It wasn’t just one individual. It’s authored by a group of tourism executives and businesses and representatives of the entire industry who have vast experience, many years of experience, to contribute their ideas and their expertise. So, we welcome that help,” Cook said.
Based on his understanding that Leon Guerrero wants the recovery plan to be a community effort, Cook said he planned a meeting with select stakeholders.
“It was simply to get all of the stakeholders together to offer a plan to move forward. It wasn’t to force one plan down the road of another, or to accept one plan over another. It was to get everyone to work together and to contribute jointly to a plan that was going to be the best plan, to get our efforts,” Cook said.
But that meeting never happened, according to Cook, who noted that GVB management didn’t want to come to the table.
Chiu took offense at Gutierrez’s remarks that the board was attacking GVB management.
“All of my comments coming in here, the purpose to say that we were asked by the governor to cooperate and work, the recovery committee was supposed to be led by the board of directors. There was a recovery committee chosen during our last meeting two weeks ago that was tasked to work with the management of GVB,” Chiu said.
The Guam Travel and Tourism Association, in response to Gutierrez’s statements, told the Guam Daily Post, “Blame doesn’t feed families; doesn’t save jobs; nor does it protect hard-earned commercial investments for our island, at a time where there is an abundance of investment opportunities elsewhere. The numbers don’t lie.”
“Real private sector jobs have been lost. Real businesses have been closed. Real citizens have been hurt. Guam’s problematic tourism recovery warrants nothing less than the serious, focused attention of key players in both sectors. The Guam Visitors Bureau ultimately works for Guam taxpayers and is therefore accountable to taxpayer concerns. As such, GVB’s mandate is to respond effectively to taxpayer concerns,” GTTA Chair Jovyna Lujan said.
Lujan expressed that the GTTA stood ready to assist GVB.
The GVB Recovery Plan has been eagerly anticipated by stakeholders such as former GVB Chair Mark Baldyga, who, although he was the subject of Gutierrez’s outburst, was excited to see what would be put forth.
“However they feel comfortable is perfectly fine. If they prefer to take a situation report and keep their existing marketing plan and pull it together into sort of their version of things, I think that’s terrific and we are excited to see what they present,” Baldyga told the Post. “I think it’s really important that’s not the final step because the whole intent is to have a collaborative approach.”
During the GVB meeting the board chose to allow time to review GVB’s proposed recovery plan and discuss it in the next board meeting on Nov. 21.
This post was originally published on here
