Johann Buttigieg steps down as tourism authority chief

Johann Buttigieg will be stepping down from his position at the Malta Tourism Authority after spending three years as its chief executive officer.

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo confirmed Buttigieg’s resignation with the Times of Malta. The newspaper reported that Bartolo himself asked Buttigieg to move on.

Buttigieg is not expected to hold any other position in the authority or in the tourism ministry.

Before his role in the tourism authority, Buttigieg had been at the helm of the Planning Authority since 2013, implementing the Muscat’s administration policy to ‘demerger’ the PA from its environmental arm, as well as implement speedier regularisations for planning illegalities, and devise new planning rules to extend Malta’s development ambitions.

A few weeks before he resigned, Buttigieg was faced with criticism from inside government over allegations of sensitive leaks originating from inside the PA over controversial planning permits on specific projects.

Two weeks later he was appointed chief executive officer at the Malta Tourism Authority.

Last year the Times of Malta reported that Buttigieg had expressed a willingness to do business with Fenech on a property venture while holding a CEO position at the Planning Authority. This was after Fenech's link to his 15 Black company had already been revealed.

The topic was raised after the Tumas magnate told Buttigieg he would equally split profits on a property development he was hoping to take over from developer Joe Portelli.