A new board has finally been appointed at the Malta Tourism Authority, the term of the previous one having expired in May.
A Tourism Ministry spokeswoman confirmed the appointment of the new board, with former Labour MP Gavin Gulia being confirmed as chairman.
The term of office of the previous board expired at the time that Edward Zammit Lewis succeeded Karmenu Vella as Tourism Minister.
Mr Vella has been nominated as European Commissioner.
The new board comprises former Nationalist parliamentary secretary Frans Agius; Mario Attard, from the hotels industry; Alan Borg, chief commercial officer at Malta International Airport; entrepreneur Chris Grech; hotelier George Micallef; Joseph Muscat, from the Gozo Tourism Association; Genevieve Abela, chief executive officer of the Federation of Language Teaching Organisations; Simon Sciberras, managing director of Dive Systems Malta; Iain Tonna from the Federation of Travel Agents and Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association president Paul Bugeja.
The board remains largely intact except for the exclusion of former Nationalist parliamentary secretary George Hyzler and Maryanne Pulè, managing director of marketing company Marketing and Promotion Ltd.
This board has the right mix of experienced and competent people
The hoteliers’ association, Air Malta and travel agents each choose a member and six are chosen by the minister. Another two members are recommended by associations from sectors representing travel and tourism services.
“This board has the right mix of experienced and competent people who recognise the industry’s importance to our economy. The people on the board are representative of different components of the tourism industry,” the spokeswoman said.
She confirmed that remuneration remained unchanged. Dr Gulia, a former justice minister, receives €18,000 a year and the rest of the board members get €3,400.
In February, Dr Gulia had strongly denied he wanted to be appointed chief executive of the MTA in the wake of a report in the General Workers’ Union’s daily, l-Orizzont, about the present CEO, Josef Formosa Gauci.
The front page story had alleged that Mr Formosa Gauci, who has been at the helm of the MTA since 2008, pocketed €23,000 in allowances for not using a chauffeur-driven car but still used a vehicle provided by the authority.
The information had been denied by Mr Vella, who was still minister at the time, by Mr Formosa Gauci himself and by the MTA board.