St. Vincent and Grenadines Tourism Authority CEO under Fire

St. Vincent and Grenadines Tourism Authority CEO under Fire

A St. Vincent opposition politician this week called for Glen Beache, chief executive officer of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority to resign, saying his involvement in a company marketing St. Vincent tourism “is a conflict of interest that will only lead to corruption.”

Citing official documents, Arnhim Eustace said directors of Lonsdale Advertising and Marketing Communication SVG, a firm controlled by Beache, are also principals of Lonsdale Saatchi and Saatchi, which markets St. Vincent under contract with the Tourism Authority. Eustace called on Saboto Caesar, St. Vincent’s minister of tourism, to terminate the contract.

“[Beache] manages the Tourism Authority and the contracts it has with those companies,” Eustace told local reporters. “This is a major deception to the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and a total and absolute conflict of interest.” Eustace said $8.4 million of the Tourism Authority’s $14 million budget is spent on advertising and promotion.

Beache, quoted earlier in local press reports, said Lonsdale SVG is “completely different” from Lonsdale Saatchi and Saatchi Trinidad and Tobago. “If anybody can find any evidence to say that I have done anything outside of my capacity as CEO for the Tourism Authority, please point it out to me,” he said.

Said Eustace, “Why would the Minister of Tourism, now the CEO of the tourism company, form a company with the same people hired to do our country’s marketing and promotion?” Eustace also questioned the company’s effectiveness in promoting St. Vincent in light of a decline of visitors to the country. He said visitor arrivals in St. Vincent fell 17 percent during the first quarter of 2011 compared with the same period of 2010 and said the decline will worsen when Princess Cruises discontinues St. Vincent calls later this year.