Tourism’s top man to commute from new home in UK
Monday 31st January 2011, 2:29PM GMT.
GUERNSEY’S tourism chief will relocate to the UK at Easter.
Commerce and Employment director of marketing and tourism Chris Elliott, pictured, will move with his family to the New Forest and commute to Guernsey on a weekly basis to continue in his current role.
Mr Elliott (pictured) said the move was for personal reasons, but he would be carrying on with the job he had loved for the last five years.
Despite those reassurances, one hotelier, who did not want to be named, expressed concerns about the announcement.
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What is happening to the licensing laws, surely if he is moving to the New Forest he should be working for the local tourist industry and not Guernsey.
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A director of tourism who doesn’t live in the island? Come on GP, you’re having us on! Is this a premature April Fool?
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Long distance relationships never work out….and who pays for the flights?
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He should resign and give his job to a local or at least a resident outsider !! Who will he be paying his income tax to then ?
THIS IS TOTALLY REDICULOUS !!!
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I have not had the chance to read the full story yet but is he paying for his travel?
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A reasonable size company and its Directors and staff are very committed and work hard to make sure we are the best we can be. For obvious reasons we only employ those prepared to give 100%. We have plenty of competition but team work and dedication keeps us at the forefront of our field and successful.
We are a private company and one of our employees ” for personal reasons” wishes to relocate to England to live full time, but wishes to commute, understanding that work in the UK is increasingly hard find especially with the pay and pension package being received at the present time.
The board regret’s that while it fully understands personal issues must take precedence over work, the position held requires a full commitment and it will have no other choice but to terminate the employment of the director.
Private company statement above, and if the Guernseys’ States employment board allow this using taxpayers money, then a precedent will have been set.
It would be different in the case of retirement, send the pension anywhere, however this is just not acceptable.
Davey West.
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ok so he is meant to publicise the tourism for Guernsey yet he wont even be living on the island, isn’t that a negative advertisement. Give the job to a local who will be able to speak to the locals about what they want
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Who’s paying for all his flights there and back? What about the environmental impact?
This is disgraceful.
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Good God this is unbelievable! Who gave him premission to do this? It can’t be tru? Of course Chris Elliott should not be permitted to fill his position as Guernsey’s Director of Marketing and Tourism upon moving lock stock and barrel to live in the UK! Absolutely not! Again, it’s unbelievable! What on earth has happened to Guernsey? How can Elliott and the States even try to attempt ( or should I say attempt to ‘continue’ with’ as presumably they have already done it ) attempt to contiue with such a disgusting abuse of public trust and faith! Is the States now an ‘Olds Boys Club’? Or some kind of a dictators paradise with only a mild excuse for a democracy as a ‘shield’? Are the citizens of Guernsey just a laughing joke? Its no wonder that in the the photograph Elliot has a chuckle on his face! And the joke is on Guernsey working people! Cancel this blokes position immediately! Fire him, with no monetary compensation even if he has it all signed and sealed in his terms of employment. Bottom line is, if Guernsey is not good enough for his highness and his entourage to reside upon, then Guernsey is not good enough to pay him his high wage! End of story.
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This is a ludicrous state of affairs, is this not politically incorrect, bearing in mind our financial circumstances, I ask the well known user of this phrase, C&E Minister McNulty? Was the post advertised? I am sure that amongst the community there must be suitably qualified residents to fulfill this important role, who are here full time.
If the States of Guernsey continue to employ Mr Elliott, we the tax payer will no doubt be paying his airfares, accommodation, living expenses (?), car hire (?)in addition to his hefty salary and pension benefits.
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This seems like really a good idea, could solve the housing problem and make the hotels busy again!! If only more high earners would follow suit a !!
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I`ll do it for half the wages – and stay here!!!
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Like others I seriously consider that this is a role which means the person in it should live full time on Guernsey. Be they originally from Guernsey or non Guernsey, as long as they have the qualifications & experience to do a good job, but they must absolutely live in Guernsey.
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Have i missed the point with this one, “Man commutes to work” where is the story, surely the issue is that he does his job to the required standard. There may be numerous reasons why he feels that commuting to work is worth paying, his reasons are not stated so how can we comment.
if he had moved from St Martins to Vale would there been a story? so why is it when then does it become a story when he moves his family and commutes to work.
I know a number of people that commute to work, in both directions, should those who commute from the island leave?
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Boxerdog, with respect I believe you have missed the point.
Mr Elliot’s job is to market the island of Guernsey and believe in the product he is selling. Yet both he and his family have rejected it as a place to live?
It reminds me of Gerald Ratner and his “it’s a load of crap” moment. Or the head of Barclaycard admitting he would never let his daughter have a Barclaycard as the interest rate was so high.
If you are selling Guernsey to the rest of the world for commerce and tourism but choose not to live here, it sends out the message “I’m trying to sell it to you but it’s not good enough for me”.
I respect his choice to leave Guernsey, but I feel he should resign and look for a job closer to his new home. I would wish him the best of luck doing so as I think he’s a great chap. I hope it all works out for him, but I think he should accept if he wants to be with his family in England he has to give up the job selling Guernsey.
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As always in the media we only get part of the story.
What we don’t know is who will pay for the flights, who will pay for his accommodation or subsistence whilst in Guernsey and the hours he will work.
Experience of a commuting director suggests so many flights per month will be paid for, accommodation will be provided free either at no charge or by a salary increase and he will be able to claim reasonable expenses i.e. taxis (here and in UK), food, papers etc. He will also arrive Monday lunch time and depart Friday lunch time. However, with meetings arranged in the UK for Friday and/or Monday he will arrive Tuesday and leave Thursday. This will also ensure the tax payer pays for all flights.
I’m sorry he has personal reasons for the move but he will not be doing the job to the standard required and therefore he should resign. It is not the problem of the Guernsey tax payer that there are too few jobs in the UK.
I would suggest that if this was a lower graded civil servant they would have no choice but to resign.
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I’d be more worried about his taxation status.
One assumes that he’ll be paying UK income tax etc – again one assumes that this will mean that Guernsey tax isn’t being paid.
Another penny on fuel anyone?
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Emma
The mans job is to get people to visit here not to move here.
He will be visiting every week, surely thats a great marketing point for tourism.
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Emma Cunningham (and others) – I feel that it is you that is missing the point.
He is selling the Island as a place to VISIT, not as a place to live. He can love the island but not live here and can know how to promote it to visitors without living here. Tourists are not sold the idea of living here, they are sold the prospect of an enjoyable weekend/week/fortnight.
It is nothing like the Ratner situation. He has not criticised Guernsey at all.
All the matters is that he does his job well, liaising with local businesses and promoting the Island externally. We are in no position to judge whether he does a good job.
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Andrew
I fear your scenario may well be close to reality.
I wonder how long it will be before an enterprising advertising copy writer uses this to sell the New Forest or any other location.
Something like the tourism boss from Guernsey prefers to live in the New Forest for whatever reason – more expensive living in Guernsey et al.
Another stupid move one would be in UK local government jobs.
One thing you can be certain of is that one way or another his extra costs will be met by the taxpayer.
Not directly, but with the expected sleight of hand.
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Gilthead – on my estimation, working 4 or five days a week on the Island will mean that he is resident here and subject to local income tax. He will also probably be resident in the UK for tax purposes, so it could get a bit complicated for him.
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Who cares where he lives? As Terry says, he is promoting the island as a holiday destination, surely better to be near some of the likely tourists? Although one would hope the cost of his travel will be covered from his earnings rather than the tax payer.
Regarding the comments on tax, he will likely be resident in both the UK and Guernsey for tax purposes. As his income will be Guernsey source he will pay Guernsey tax first, then UK tax, theoretically with double taxation relief (to avoid paying the same tax twice to two different authorities) so the ITO will still get their fair share.
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If I decided to go and live in UK (for personal reasons) I would leave my place of work, or I would have to fork out huge costs for transportation and accommodation.
Why doesn’t he just quit?
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Terry to quote you if I may,
” We are in no position to judge whether he does a good job “.
This statement is truly astonishing. It also underlines the difference between the private sector and the public sector. I truly hope you are not one of the employers, issuing a statement like that.
In a nutshell, what you are saying is employers of the director for tourism (The States of Guernsey ) have no clue whether he has made a worthwhile contribution to Guernseys’ tourism industry, as a sufficiently robust system of checks and balances are clearly not in place.
Some reasonable and frankly basic questions, which would be asked, and should be asked in any efficient and thriving department, selling tourism on an annual basis.
Has the Chief Executive / Director,
Achieved a year on year increase in tourism numbers,
A greater spend per head of visitor compared to last the previous year.
Good financial management over the department, accounting for every penny spent in the tourism budget.
Published forward financial planning, and how to use the budget to its best effect in the coming year.
An agreed and established plan to take advantage of an uplift in ” closer to home holidays ” using the fact of less money in the UK due to austerity measures, meaning less long haul holidays, in the 2011 market.
I am sure other people could add further responsible objective questions.
Davey West.
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Don’t sweat
I am sure most of the promotional work for the Island is carried out by London based PR and advertising agencies anyway !
Anyway you only need to look at the flights on a Monday to see the number of people who commute off the Island each week, they may even be Guerns, sack them I say ! How disloyal not even working full time on the Island its a disgrace !!
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I’m pretty sure Mr Elliot’s job is more than just getting tourists over here, doesn’t it have something to do with marketing the island as a place for business?
It’s more than just getting Joe and Tina Tourist on Flylo for three nights at the Cobo Bay with a sea view….
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Davey West – what on earth are you on about??!
None of us on this forum (and in particular the people calling for his resignation) are in a position to judge whether he does a good job as we do not work with him and are not his employers.
I have no reason to doubt that the C&E know whether he is doing a good job.
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The exodus continues
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Interesting Mr Langlois,
While I was jotting the post down your post disappeared. It was as I stated, is this Guernsey post helping you out ?
Davey West
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What a lot of ignorance!- noone who is not involved in the issues here knows the full story and the personal reasons behind the relocation. To live here he needs a licence – has Mr Elliott been offered one?
As long as there is objective evidence that the tourism industry is benefitting from Chris Elliott’s leadership of marketing and tourism( and hotel occupancy figures, website visits and passenger arrivals all published in the GP over the last year suggest there is) then Commerce and Employment are surely right to continue his employment.
Many of the above comments, made without any real information, are likely to be far more offputting to visitors than the residence of the director of tourism.
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Perhaps our “insider” Dave Jones can add his views or give a little information on this subject.
Dave, do you think this situation is right?
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I might have known this report would get people writing on this thread. For god’s sake Guernsey, this man is simply going to commute to work. He is employed to promote tourism, and he can do so perfectly well as a ‘tourist’.
Sadly, so many people in Guernsey are wrapped up in ‘Guernsey’ that they have not realised how small the world has become in modern times.
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In light of the publication of a new article on this subject, comments on this story are now closed.
Should you wish to read the new report and possibly add a comment, please visit the following page:
http://www.thisisguernsey.com/2011/02/02/ill-be-paying-my-own-way-and-more-tax/
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