Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/358967
THE Malta Hotels and Restau- rants Association (MHRA) presi- dent Paul Bugeja is favourite to replace outgoing Malta Tourism Authority CEO Josef Formosa Gauci. MaltaToday is informed that tourism minister Edward Zam- mit Lewis has approached Bugeja – who already sits on the MTA board – to fill in the void left by the outgoing CEO. In comments to MaltaTo- day, Bugeja could not confirm whether he would be appointed, however he said "discussions are on-going, but nothing has been finalised yet." He said the government and the MTA were keeping their options open but added that due to com- mercially sensitive information he wasn't in a position to com- ment any further. "The government is keen on fill- ing in all the vacancies at MTA at the earliest," Bugeja said, adding that the sooner the vacancies are filled the better for the industry. Apart from heading the indus- try's top lobby, Bugeja currently serves as the Corinthia group's Chief Financial Officer. Earlier, travel and tourism op- erators yesterday thanked out- going CEO Formosa Gauci, "for his sterling contribution to the industry" and called on the gov- ernment to recommend to the MTA Board a possible successor in the shortest time possible. Newspaper post WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION WEDNESDAY • 6 AUGUST 2014 • ISSUE 376 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY Editorial - PAGE 9 €0.90 SEE MORE ON PAGE 4 Travel advisory calls on Maltese nationals to leave Libya today, new fl ights organised for assisted departure Malta calls on its nationals to leave Libya immediately Paul Bugeja touted for MTA top job MHRA president Paul Bugeja set to be appointed Malta Tourism Authority chief MIRIAM DALLI THE Maltese government is raisi g the level of its travel advisory warning and calling on Maltese nationals to leave Libya immediately. The decision to assist Maltese na- tionals to leave the country was taken yesterday by the Cabinet. Principal permanent secretary Mario Cutajar, who heads Malta's crisis coor- dination centre, said the government was calling on Maltese in the capital, Tripoli, and in Benghazi and oil fields, to leave today Wednesday. In what could be the final proce- dure before evacuating the Maltese embassy in Tripoli and the consulate in Benghazi, the government will be operating two flights from Mitiga air- port in Tripoli and from Labraq, just outside Benghazi. The flights will be paid for by the government. Maltese nationals working in the oil fields were the first to be contacted and informed of today's flights. Ac- cording to Cutajar, the situation in Libya is fluid and the government is monitoring the situation on the roads, since over the past few weeks some ar- eas of the country are no longer safe to travel by road. CONTINUES ON PAGE 3 Paul Bugeja (L) with former tourism minister Karmenu Vella and outgoing MTA chief Josef Formosa Gauci (R)