In St. Moritz, the dispute over the tourism organization has escalated
The municipality of St. Moritz has withdrawn its confidence in the board of directors of Engadin St. Moritz Tourism. It no longer intends to work with the marketing organization under this leadership.
As research by the SonntagsZeitung the dispute between the municipality and the marketing organization Engadin St. Moritz Tourismus has escalated in St. Moritz. Criticism arose in September when the Board of Directors of the tourism company dismissed the CEO without notice and later made a deficit of CHF 600,000 public. The widespread opinion was that the entire Board of Directors should have resigned over such figures.
The AG is owned by municipalities such as St. Moritz, Samedan, Pontresina and Sils. St. Moritz is by far the largest shareholder, with the municipality owning over 34% of the shares.
Letter withdraws confidence from the BoD
According to SonntagsZeitung the municipality of St. Moritz under President Christian Jott Jenny sent the Board of Directors a registered letter last week. The letter states that trust in the Board of Directors has eroded in recent weeks and finally disappeared completely. Further cooperation with the current Board of Directors is therefore unthinkable.
The Board of Directors itself had asked the municipalities for a vote of confidence. Chairman of the Board Marcus Gschwend believes that his committee is still halfway supported; with the exception of St. Moritz, the municipalities that have expressed their confidence so far have done so. However, the opinion of St. Moritz carries too much weight to be ignored. The Engadin Hoteliers' Association also supports the distrust: Only just over a fifth think the Board of Directors is doing a good job, while 65 percent of hoteliers think a change is needed.
Showdown at the Annual General Meeting
What happens next will be revealed at the upcoming general meeting. Municipal spokesman Fabrizio D'Aloisio indicates that the company may continue to take a confrontational approach and exercise its shareholder rights. Termination of the service contract is an option, he says.
Ex-CEO wants to sue
The Board of Directors is facing further trouble from the fired former director Gerhard Walter. He claims not to have known about a deficit of 600,000 and only found out about it afterwards - he has not seen any evidence to date. He is also bothered by the fact that the Board of Directors accused him in a communiqué in December of "poor management" and "exceeding his authority". If no agreement is reached in the short term, Walter now intends to take legal action and assert his claims under employment law and defend himself against the Board of Directors' reputationally damaging statements.
