THE head of tourism was involved in a spat with one of the leading figures in the industry yesterday – on his last day in the island. Stuart Pinnell left Guernsey after three years as chief executive of VisitGuernsey.

He parted by sending a letter to Association of Places of Particular Interest chairman Peter de Sausmarez, accusing him of having launched a personal attack on his management style.

Mr Pinnell took offence at comments made about him by Mr de Sausmarez on BBC Guernsey last week.

In the letter said he had been appalled to hear the ‘personal attack’ on air.

Mr de Sausmarez said: ‘There was nothing said in my interview that was defamatory as far as I know.’

He has since replied to Mr Pinnell, apologising for any impression that it had been a personal attack as that had not been his intention.

And he wished the former tourism head success in his new post in a corresponding position at the East of England Tourist Board.

Mr de Sausmarez said he was confident of improving relations with his replacement, Chris Elliott.

‘I hope there will be a happy working relationship and some of the ideas that have proved ineffectual will be dealt with and some of the ideas that have not been used will be.’

In his letter, Mr Pinnell said he wanted to put the record straight.

He said he had visited the manor on several occasions for discussions and had suggested its farmers’ markets. He added that he encouraged its inclusion in the SeaGuernsey 2005 programme.

He said he had stopped visiting after Mr de Sausmarez allegedly tried to record a confidential conversation between the two men using a machine hidden in his pocket.

Mr de Sausmarez denied the accusation, claiming that the machine had not been recording and that it had not been intended that it should.

He said he had never mentioned the concept of the farmers’ market to Mr Pinnell and that he had pre-existing involvement with the SeaGuernsey project.

Mr de Sausmarez said: ‘I’ve written a letter to him and I don’t want to argue in public with someone who I have no axe to grind against.’

Mr de Sausmarez last week accused the States of failing Guernsey in the way that it advertised the island. He claimed that some self-catering establishments had only half the bookings this year compared to previous ones.

A Commerce and Employment Department spokesman said: ‘We are in regular contact with various establishments and can confirm that, year to date, some hotels and self-catering establishments have reported been doing exceptionally well, while others have experienced a reduction in their trade.’

The spokesman said that the department was working on a number of ways to better match supply and demand for visitor accommodation and also to encourage new air routes to Guernsey.

‘The department will be able to get a much clearer account of performance across the sector when passenger and visitor statistics for 2006 become available at the end of the season,’ he added.