Tempers flare over "insulting" rumor against GVB board chairman

An oversight hearing on tourism took a heated turn following accusations that Guam Visitors Bureau board chairman George Chiu is “hindering progress” with Taiwan due to personal ties with China.  Senator Telo Taitague remarked if Chiu should “ask Homeland Security” about those rumors. The chairman calls it a personal affront and insulting”.

The sentor said, "Are you hindering the Taiwan market, that you really don’t want to move forward or provide any kind of incentive? Is that true?" Chiu replied, "That’s totally false, senator...as I want to say again, my wife is from Taiwan. Why would I be anti-Taiwan?"

Taitague tem said, "I don’t know, you might want to ask Homeland Security that."

"I take it as a personal affront that you want to contact Homeland Security and questioning my loyalty to the United States of America. I think that's rather insulting, senator," said Chiu.

The line of questioning comes after lawmakers grilled tourism officials for three hours on Tuesday, from everything from destination management and GVB governance to airline incentives and marketing strategies. The chairman explains his position– saying he’s not “anti-Taiwan”, but “anti-bad business.” 

He said, "We allocated $3 million for two flights a week that comes out to a seat subsidy and for two flights a week, we get 12,000 passengers. 12,000 tourists coming to Guam. If we allocate the same money to another airline like Korea, we get 109,000 seats."

Chiu adds GVB wants to allocate another $1 million for Taiwan marketing.  He suggests that money could be better spent on other markets like the Philippines, where some 1.5 million Filipinos hold us visas. 

"If I'm not mistaken," he said, "now we have 18 flights if we include Cebu. 18 flights a week. And yet all I hear about is ‘let's market Taiwan.’ And I don't hear anything from GVB about how we are going to market the Philippines. Where should the money be spent? Should we be spending money where we have 18 flights a week or should we be spending the money where we have two flights a week? That's all that's all this is. This is a numbers game."

In the meantime, Senator Taitague argues the Taiwan market serves as a critical pillar for Guam’s wider economic growth, not just for tourism.