Acting governor calls for unity following feud at GVB

"Now is the time for unity" - that's what Acting Governor Josh Tenorio says after that heated video circulated from a recent Guam Visitors Bureau meeting. The feud was a familiar one between GVB's president of and its board.

An impassioned meeting is how Acting Governor Josh Tenorio described the heated discussion between GVB president Carl Gutierrez and board chairman George Chiu.

The administration is demanding the board and management work together to come up with a tourism recovery plan.  "In terms of what happened. I regret that it was very impassioned and for me when I see people impassioned that means everybody wants to work to get something done and our job will be to make sure we can do that collaboratively," he said.

The divide is a familiar one that previously kept the board and management from meeting. 

Tenorio urging them to get along, saying, "We are looking for unity. Unity would mean a combination of the government, the private sector, those in tourism and our people of Guam. I am confident that we will be able to generate and take from all the passion that there is to come up with a unified game plan. I think in many ways that's what the governor is leading right now as she goes to Korea. She is with people from the industry and GVB. They are razor focused on expanding seat capacity and then we will be taking a look at the plans."

In the meantime, efforts are underway to boost the island's number one economic driver, with Tenorio adding, "When I take a look at the plans myself a lot of what is being proposed is on the same page. The only area is the source of the amount of money that is going to be available for needs. Some interests are looking for additional money for advertising. Some are looking for helping to subsidize airline seats. In my view, the big thing is trying to get seat capacity, bring in the larger number of tourist and then work with the business community to stabilize their operations."

The administration touting the growing relationship GovGuam has with the military. Despite the lingering frustrations in GVB, Adelup isn't giving up hope just yet.

"I'll just say our community and economy is in transition because we've been fortunate to have a large upswing and continued sustained upswing in military spending," the acting governor stated. "But at the same time we have to pay attention to our first girlfriend here or boyfriend, who is tourism."

Certainly, Tenorio says the administration is keeping the tourism industry close. He admits there is a need to expand the number of people working in GVB after seeing a lot of people leave the industry to take other jobs.

The acting governor adding the future for Guam is to get more people into the workforce.