Visitscotland pulls out of £145,000 job offer to Lynch

The beleaguered Scottish tourist industry suffered another blow this week when visitscotland, formerly the Scottish Tourist Board, announced it had withdrawn the £145,000-a-year job offer of chief executive to former Forte Hotels marketing director Rod Lynch, just days after the appointment was announced.

The sudden about-turn came after it emerged that Lynch had also planned to work three days a month as chairman and chief executive for another firm, Essex air cargo company Global Supply Solutions.

A spokesman for visitscotland said on Tuesday that Lynch had been asked to relinquish his role with the air freight company, but he had refused. "While it was always envisaged that Mr Lynch could take on non-executive directorships, the executive nature of his contract with Global Supply Solutions was incompatible with his intended role as chief executive of visitscotland," the spokesman added.

While visitscotland says the decision has been taken with the full support of Scottish ministers, it is thought some senior ministers in the Scottish Parliament are furious about the debacle at a sensitive time for Scottish tourism.

The appointment of Lynch, until recently chief executive of Greek airline Olympic Airways, was intended to fill the gap left by the departure from the tourist board five months ago of former chief executive Tom Buncle. He had come under fire from some in the industry who said he had failed to provide strong leadership at a time when Scottish tourism was suffering a drop in business.

By Bob Gledhill and David Shrimpton