It’s now official that the Chairperson of the Grenada Board of Tourism (GBT) has become the island’s new Director of Tourism. A brief announcement from the Office of the Prime Minister said that, “on the recommendation of the Directors of the Grenada Board of Tourism (GBT), Sen. The Hon. Brenda Hood has appointed Mrs. Jocelyn Sylvester-Gairy as Director of the Grenada Board of Tourism”.

“The former Cruise and Yachting Officer of the Grenada Board of Tourism, Mrs. Nikoyan Roberts has been appointed as Chairman. Both appointments for the Chairman and Director take effect March 1, 2006”, the release added.
Sylvester-Gairy succeeds William Joseph, who was seconded from the post of Permanent Secretary in the Public Service to serve on the statutory body.
The board had offered Joseph another 2-year contract but he indicated that he would be prepared to remain in the job for another year.

The proposal was submitted to government but it was turned down, leaving GBT without a head for several months. Joseph is preparing for his retirement from the service to pursue a career in the legal profession. Sylvester-Gairy is known to be closely aligned to the ruling New National Party (NNP) of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell.

She is the owner of Astral Travel & Tours, a travel agency that contracts a tremendous amount of business from government. Astral was identified as the travel agency that was paid for the airline tickets for the controversial June 2000 trip by Prime Minister Mitchell to Switzerland when he admitted to receiving a certain sum of money from German fraudster, Eric Resteiner.

In the case of Roberts, she is the wife of newly elected Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the ruling party, Kennedy Roberts. The new Chairperson of the GBT board has appeared in the past on the political platform of the NNP to deliver speeches in favour of the party.