Embattled WTB chairman quits
John French, beleaguered chairman of the Wales Tourist Board (WTB), has opted for early retirement at the age of 53 to "concentrate on other interests".
French and the WTB had come under fierce attack from the Welsh hospitality industry this year for allegedly failing to tackle a disastrous holiday season. In August, hoteliers even appealed to the Irish Tourist Board to represent their interests, and French was pilloried after he took a three-week holiday in Spain (Caterer, 10 September, page 10).
The WTB said last week it was making arrangements to appoint an acting chief executive until it found a permanent replacement for French, who has been on extended leave since returning from Spain in September. French intends to run a family tourism business in Carmarthenshire.
Hotelier Jim Moore, chairman of operators' group Brecon Beacons Tourism and a leading critic of the WTB, said: "The job is enough to frighten off any decent applicant. Without a major, radical overhaul any new chairman is on a hiding to nothing."
He feels that the money and responsibility for tourism is too thinly spread among as many as 30 bodies which lack co-ordination in their marketing efforts.
