David Revagliatte meets Kevin Bossino, the CEO of the Gibraltar Tourist Board. His journey takes us from the iconic Rock Hotel in Gibraltar to the bustling tourism industries of Europe and Asia.
Kevin brings us into the heart of Gibraltar's potential as a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions) destination. We delve into the impact of Covid-19 and the urgency of adaptive repositioning marketing strategies.
We get an exclusive peek into the changes happening at the Gibraltar Federation of Small Businesses (GFSB) and the exciting addition of 'What's New Gibraltar?' to our podcast.
Thanks for listening to the Gibraltar Business Podcast by the GFSB! Follow us on Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook!
David Revagliatte meets Kevin Bossino, the CEO of the Gibraltar Tourist Board. His journey takes us from the iconic Rock Hotel in Gibraltar to the bustling tourism industries of Europe and Asia.
Kevin brings us into the heart of Gibraltar's potential as a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions) destination. We delve into the impact of Covid-19 and the urgency of adaptive repositioning marketing strategies.
We get an exclusive peek into the changes happening at the Gibraltar Federation of Small Businesses (GFSB) and the exciting addition of 'What's New Gibraltar?' to our podcast.
Thanks for listening to the Gibraltar Business Podcast by the GFSB! Follow us on Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook!
Hello and welcome to the Gibraltar Business Podcast, where we meet the local entrepreneurs and experts who are leading in their fields. I'm your host, david Revagliate, and I am super, super excited to be back, as we have a cracking this season for you. I want to start by thanking you, the listener, for tuning in, so, whether you've just found us or have been with us since the start, I thank you so much for your support and for being there. The Gibraltar Business Podcast is brought to you by the GFSB and is sponsored by the Gibraltar International Bank, which shares our passion for all things business. This season comes with fresh, new guests, fresh new features and is coming from a new studio in the heart of town. It's the first time the Gibraltar Business Podcast has had its own home, and I look forward to hosting my guests over the coming weeks. Every season to this date has seen me nomadically go to all of my guests offices, which I've loved because I'm quite nosy. It's amazing to be able to host them in the heart of town in our new temporary studio, so it's going to be awesome for us. There are also big changes at the GFSB itself over the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for those so on to this week's show.
David Revagliatte:This month marks one year since Kevin Bossino became the CEO of the Gibraltar Tourist Board, tasked by the Minister for Business with promoting Gibraltar as a premier overnight and cruise tourism destination. Mr Bossino has worked in the tourism industry in nine countries in Europe and Asia and has loads and loads and loads of multi-sector experience within tourism. After Kevin's interview, jblo's Michelle Tavares shares some news with you in a new feature what's New Gibraltar? So, kevin, thank you for meeting me today and welcome to the Gibraltar Business Podcast. Great, thank you for having me here. This interview is timely, as it's just over a year, I think, since you took over as CEO of Gibraltar Tourism.
Kevin Bossino:Yeah, that's right, just coming up to a year now and, yeah, it's been very exciting time, so yeah, very much enjoying it.
David Revagliatte:Some listeners will know who you are, many might not, but of course you are the CEO of Gibraltar Tourism. I know that from past conversations that you and I have had that you've got plenty of cross-sector experience at senior levels within tourism industries as a whole. There's loads to talk about, but can you share some of those top line experiences that bring you right now to this role?
Kevin Bossino:Yeah, well, I started here in Gibras, you know, and started up in the Rock Hotel. Then, very soon after, at the age of 16, went to Italy. I was in Venice working for a while, then I was in London with a Savoy Group and so, fast forward to now, I spent quite a bit of time in Asia. Within that experience, I was in Spain as well. When I was in Spain I was working at the La Manga Group, which at the time was owned by PNO. They ventured into the resort, the leisure resort industry, so I got to know quite a bit about the. I almost joined a cruise ship, actually, when I finished that assignment and then went to Hong Kong.
Kevin Bossino:And whilst I was in Hong Kong, at one stage I was working for Cathie Pacific, which you know, it's a national carrier in the vertical commas of Hong Kong. It was in those days and I was actually in the head office working in their head office, because it was running a 500 room hotel for them that they were opening, and I was involved when they moved from Kai Tak Airport, the old airport, to Chep La Kok. So all the logistical stuff was really fascinating. I started off in Hong Kong with a Hyg Group and then I joined a startup company which was kind of a spin off from Hyg. They wanted to emulate what Hyg had done in terms of its development. We ended up with 40 hotels in Asia Pacific and when you get that big, then you are a candidate for takeover because it's a very dynamic world out there. Then we went through all the different players in the market, the big players in the market. We courted the Marriots, the Marriots of the world, the ISGs of the world, the Hilton and Akko eventually won the deal and they took over.
Kevin Bossino:So I ended up with Akko at that time, with all the peaks and troughs and resets that they had, because it keeps on changing. They had a lot of takeovers, a lot of movement in the company. We ended up with at that time when I left was 5,500 hotels in the world. I myself was a vice president of operations in Singapore itself and South Malaysia and I was responsible for about 5,000 rooms, maybe 6,000 rooms actually. Then, just before that, actually before one of the major resets that we had, because we took over the Raffles Group, the Fairmont Group, the Swiss hotel group, I was still vice president of operations of Singapore. I also have some responsibilities in Asia Pacific, which was something like we had about 880 hotels at that time. Now probably it's gone up to about 2000. The time was about 880.
David Revagliatte:So yeah, so been and I know what I pick up from there, and you know I think our listeners will will appreciate, is that you've got experience from hotel, airline and also from cruise Experience, like you know, those three major players, which is so important to Gibraltar, and you've kind of have that experience international level. So, yeah, great.
Kevin Bossino:No, when it comes to, well, airlines and cruise lines and the hospitality sector, it we very much Into wine because you know we have crew hotels, that we had a hotel where we had, you know, I think, something like 300 rooms per night. That was only airline crew. You know British Airways Contest, you know, you name it, and we also had cruise line passengers there's staying with us, you know. So it's. So you have a lot of interaction between the three elements.
David Revagliatte:Yeah, I guess it's. It's you know, you know here in Gibraltar, so it's it probably not overused term, but an ecosystem. We're all kind of Feeding off each other, supporting each other, and I think it reflects business here, but also tourism, for sure, coming down to, obviously, when you took on the role of CEO. Obviously it's a huge, great opportunity for, for shaping Gibraltar's tourist product, but it must have come with some challenges. What are some of them and how are you overcoming them?
Kevin Bossino:Yeah, definitely. You know We've hit the ground running when when I started, it's been Extremely busy. I think the first year it's all about getting to know how Government works. That's already a lesson in itself, because I've always worked in the private sector, so working for government is a bit different, as you can imagine. But also seeing the relationship between that the government has with the private sector, that's interesting to see from the other side. And then, on top of that, it's getting to know all the different players Locally and also internationally.
Kevin Bossino:So I spend a lot of time Doing that, a lot of time traveling to different places to meet with important people around. That, you know, it can make a difference to us. And of course, it's such a dynamic world, as I was saying before, that things change all the time. People are moving, all the times companies are taken over. So there's a lot of moving parts which you need to keep abreast of. You have to be in the front of it, you have to be visible, and especially when it comes to a place like ours, like Gibraltar, because you know it's a small place so we compete with big boys out there it's not easy when you're competing with people that have, you know unlimited resources, singapore, for example, their budget for For this year, the tourism budget, only was half a billion, with a B dollars Singapore dollars. So you know we've got a huge, huge budget and we are competing with other sort of Sort of bigger nations, a bigger districts.
David Revagliatte:So, kevin, yeah, I think you know We've always not punched above our weight, but I think in all areas you brought it as well internationally. But of course that's a huge challenge since you've taken the helm, and of course you know If you think of jobs you've taken. First, 12 months are spent, as you say, building relationships, getting to know, learning what the challenge actually is and what the role actually is. You have been super busy. I've been seeing a lot of things online and things of initiatives that Gibraltar tourism has been involved in. What are some of those changes or Initiatives that you are proud of developing over the last 12 months?
Kevin Bossino:You know, I think we need to start with a, with a basics, and I think there's been a lot of effort done in the past, but I think I still think that we need to do more in terms of the greening up, the cleaning up and Keeping up, which is a maintenance of our products. So I think that's that goes without saying. I think there's a Quite, a well discussed topic and I've tried to do my bit. We've managed to do a few things that little bits help, you know, like the we've entered, you know, fix up the, the entry points, so that's much better than it was before Things like lamp or tunnel, the the tunnels are casements, tunnels, staircase, coming down from Laiwal to ICC, the British War Memorial, anastah, those sort of things that help the image, because all these things help the image of of Gibraltar.
Kevin Bossino:You know, yeah, that's not under my remit, but because of my remit is basically to to market Gibraltar as best I can. But I think we need to sometimes help out and, you know, work with our colleagues around and trying to steer things in the right direction. I read something recently in that you were involved and I think you, you know.
David Revagliatte:Gibraltar tourism was at a fair in the. You in the UK Talking about Gibraltar is a mice destination. Do you know? Tell me a bit more about that, and what is a mice destination?
Kevin Bossino:for those who don't know, yeah, look, I think when it comes to tourism, it's a huge area right, and that's why it takes time to to get to know all the players and all the moving parts. It's a huge area because sometimes people tend to think of tourism as Somebody coming around with the baseball cap and sunglasses right, which is the leisure tourists. But you got the leisure tourists, which is a business, and leisure tourists Somebody come business and mixing it up with with leisure, you have Corporate tourism and then you have a business. You have corporate tourism as well, where you have corporate meetings. Part of it is the mice business and not going about rodents running around. I'm talking about meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions.
Kevin Bossino:So I think that's one area I want to focus in because I think, yeah, I think Gibraltar is an experiential destination and I think you need to make people come to Gibraltar to experience it and then they they can Go to the beach, for example. I don't, we are not a beach destination. I don't think. In my opinion, it's something, is a great ad added value, but I don't think if you go to a beach you will go to Portugal, you go to Greece, you go to Bali, you know, but for us we got great beaches, but I think people it wouldn't resonate for somebody to come over for a beach holiday to Gibraltar, it adds on once they're here for something else.
Kevin Bossino:So I think the mice business, I think, takes a lot of boxes because, especially on the incentive part, we can go for the small conventions. Exhibitions typically are bigger, but if the niche exhibitions, we can do that as well. But I think niche incentives are where we, where I think we got to go, because when it comes to the incentives, it's these are companies that want to reward the staff or the one who have a power I'll and you can have a big, large, monthly large from the company that just wants to send the executive team over. Or you have a small startup company wants to send the the team over to brainstorm. You know, and because we are A small, small destination, I think that's a usp, it's a unique selling point that we have. We shouldn't use it as the fact that we're small as a Detractor, as something that is there's a negative thing. I think we can turn it into a very positive thing.
David Revagliatte:It becomes your superpower right.
Kevin Bossino:Well, because it's, it's, we become almost like a campus we're also doing, we're working with, because you know we also have educational lines. Of the educational verticals, you've got Leisure verticals, you've got business verticals, you've got sports verticals within the sports industry also.
Kevin Bossino:There's a huge amount of different vignettes that come out of that. You know, you have squash, you have. We just had the third division European championships in jib this this year. We've had rugby sevens, we've had hockey, we've had netball. We've got a big thing coming up with netball in a couple years time 2025. It's no enter backgammon. There's chess.
David Revagliatte:So yeah, chess has been coming for for a number of years now. You mentioned yourself, jabot is small. Right, it's definitely superpower and it helps us in many ways, but when we're talking about all these verticals and all this potential, we're small. How can we house all of these people? Have we got enough hotel occupancy at the moment?
Kevin Bossino:Well, in terms of hotel room stock is something that we always face a challenge with. We go, we go around trying to surge a ball to, and I learned very quickly that you can't go for the big stuff, because I've tried to go for the, the large sports events, the large business conventions, but we just can't do it. We're too small. But, having said that, we have been working quite hard, myself and the minister trying to to up again there, and I think we've got quite a few things. There's been a few announcements already. We've got a few things in the pipeline, so that will help the room stock, the hotel room stock, which caters more to the corporate market, I would say, but also to the ledger, to certain types of ledger, ledger, guests. That's great.
Kevin Bossino:That's when we also have the advent of short-term let's Accommodation, which we need to be regulated in a light way because we want to grow. We want to grow, but we want to grow in a calibrated fashion so that we make sure that things are planned properly and that it goes commensurate with the increased level of tourism.
David Revagliatte:That's great to know that. We're the. You know you're working on Developings, our room stock. You know hotel room stock or accommodation stock for for tourists. Before we interviewed, before we started interviews offline, you started sharing some, some statistics with me. Can you, can you share some of the highlights from the last year of where we are? If you'll share your Are kind of position on things?
Kevin Bossino:Yeah, look, we have in the volume side of things Because we've spoken about the, the, the mice industry, which I think is again very important We've got the individual traveler. I think there's been a change also in terms of how people are traveling after covid. Um, I think most people don't want to be stuck in a bus with uh, with 40, 50, 60 other people. They uh there's, there's been a. The trend was already there, but I think it's exacerbated the trend. Co-ed is exacerbated the trend and you see a lot more people coming for um individual travel um, so you have that element where, in terms of marketing, our strategies need to change and if we need to taper our, our marketing to to go for that kind of uh business, then we have things like weddings, for example, again another very niche Um product that we have. We uh recently announced the, the mounts, that it's going to be geared towards weddings, which is A fantastic piece of news, because we're already pretty strong in weddings. Um, I've even found out that we've we've hit Some nerve in in france.
Kevin Bossino:Oh, well for some reason and uh, we and we've got a lot of traction in france, we've come out in in programs, in wedding programs in in france.
David Revagliatte:It is. You know jeb's reputation just from a tourist point of view. You know like even before we were on my way here today, there was a beautiful Seeing just outside the cathedral with a really lovely british kind of vintage car. I don't know which car it was, but it was one of those moments. Of course people want to come and get married here and of course they might choose us. We've obviously got um yo kowano and uh, john lennon's famous picture in the rock which is kind of the gift that keeps on giving, if you like.
David Revagliatte:So yeah for sure. I think that's definitely an area that could be looked at.
Kevin Bossino:Certainly, I was saying also then the other. So we've got the coach business coming from Spain, but we also have the cruise business, which, although it's a volume business, I say that with utmost respect because you've got some luxury cruise liners as well and you have, you know, a lot of well-to-do people using cruises, and that has seen a resurgence. Of course, during COVID, it all came down by 2025. We are already up to 2019 levels. So we are up from actually 2024, we're already 5% up from 2023. And in 2025, we are up by over 11%, and this is from 2020?.
David Revagliatte:Cruiship calling.
Kevin Bossino:Cruiship calling yes, that's right While other destinations around us have actually dropped Okay, so that's a good story.
Kevin Bossino:We're bending over backwards and that's why I think it's important for everyone to realize that we need to keep on changing, we need to keep on innovating, because people who come to Gibraltar, then you know, in the cruise liners, for example, you have some of them have even 50% repeat business. So when they come, they want to experience something different, something unique, something bespoke, and that's what they're after. So we need to keep on reinventing the wheel and try to try to give them a different experience as well.
David Revagliatte:How about the air site? How's that's going Okay?
Kevin Bossino:So again, I think that's seen some positive numbers as well. We're in between. Well, we've seen that BA has added flights. They thought it prudent to add more flights, which is great news. I'm sure you've seen the announcement of Monarch.
David Revagliatte:Yeah, so my gosh, I was going back in time, you know, like six years.
Kevin Bossino:Yeah, it's not going to happen tomorrow, because they still need to do a lot of work to get the airline up and running. But yeah, they've already indicated that they're very interested in Gibraltar, so that's really good news. But yeah, so our numbers are sort of in between. We're above 2018, well above 2018, I think like we're over 13%, and we're just under 2019, only about 4% under. So that must go up to May, so we could have improved since then.
David Revagliatte:Brilliant and that's going to be really positive news, or we're moving in the right direction, especially that's going to resonate with Gibraltar's business community and I know that of course there's a podcast about business.
David Revagliatte:Many of our listeners may be running their own business, maybe on Main Street here in Gibraltar, whatever in whatever the business they're in, they may be affected by tourist trade, right? So I want to kind of talk and maybe focus our conversation on a couple of issues that were included in the GFSB's election wishlist and you know talking around those themes from where you're sitting and given your experience over the last 12 months, what do you feel businesses could be doing more of to improve or contribute to Gibraltar's tourism product?
Kevin Bossino:Well, I think in Gibraltar you've got quite a lot of interesting entrepreneurs around. They're very eager to do business. I think it's our job now to open the doors for them. I think sometimes they go through some quite tedious stumbling blocks, some of them because they have to, because there's regulations, but some of it can be forced through a bit more. So I think you know I've certainly have tried my best to help people, to open doors for them, to make it that events a success or the strategies a success.
Kevin Bossino:I think there's a lot to be said about the relationship between the tourism and the private sector, a lot that can be done there together.
Kevin Bossino:But I think you know, in terms of Gibraltar as a whole, you know I think we need to reimagine what we have to offer, or reimagine Gibraltar.
Kevin Bossino:You know the shopping experience, for instance, the retail experience is, I think again, it's one of the things that can be turned into a positive. You know you go to the big destinations and you have the typical brands. Sometimes you don't even know which place you're at because they've got the same brands and it becomes a bit monotonous. But we still have that sort of traditional feel to our main street, to our high street. So I think that's again something that can be celebrated and I think that goes very, very well in tangent with the quaintness that I think we should have as a destination. You know, we've got the Britishness, the, all the things that can't be replicated because of our history, because of our culture, things that can't easily be replicated in our vicinity or in any destination around here. So I think you've got we've got a really unique special place, and I think it's a question of getting together more often with the GFSB, for example, of the Chamber, and thrashing out what we can do to better our lot for everybody and so in everybody's interest.
David Revagliatte:I think you know what you just said there and you know the words collaboration and working together. That will be positive for sure, because I know that the GFSB is really eager to work more collaboratively with Gibraltar tourism and other players in here locally. So I think one of the things they wanted was to reconvene the tourist board. If that happens or not, well that's, that's on the, on their, on their wish list. But I think words like collaboration and work together and improve shopping and retail in Gibraltar is going to be great.
David Revagliatte:So so thanks for sharing that. The business community also, just from our members and from from the GFSB members, are keen on a longer term vision, if you like, or to see that from Gibraltar how close are we to unveiling a five or 10 year strategic plan and what are the challenges you're facing?
Kevin Bossino:Well, I think the biggest challenge here is the uncertainty of what's going to happen with with the fluidity of the border. So nobody really knows until until it happens. So I think we've got to be prepared for every eventuality. Of course, if it happens, things will change and we will need to really rethink how we, how we operate. But if it doesn't happen, it's the same on the other end which still needs to really put our heads together and figure out how we're going to make this work.
Kevin Bossino:But you know, I think again. You know I think we need to reimagine Gibraltar. I think sometimes the perception that Gibraltar has overseas, even in the UK, sometimes it's actually quite surprising how little they know of Gibraltar even in our main direct market, with 67 million people in the UK. So I think we need to work hard to make sure that the perception is changed, that we reimagine what Gibraltar can portray, and to diversify the experience that one wants people come to Gibraltar. You know I'm quite ambitious about Gibraltar Tourism. I think I'm very excited about it. I think the minister is very ambitious about it as well. So I think we work very well in hand in hand and I think already this year there's been an announcement of of you know, different areas through the mountains.
Kevin Bossino:We've had the northern defences that have been worked on the World War Two tunnels have just reopened and there's talk about the Parsons Lodge. What's going to happen there? The Hollow Rock as a venue is coming up as well. So you know there's a lot of fodder there that can be exploited, in the right term of the word, to make sure that the visitor experience improves. And I have to say you know from reviews that I've seen, I think the visitors experience that I've encountered have been very positive. Again, one thing that I think is key for Gibraltar is that for Gibraltar, you need to come and see it for yourself, because it's very hard to explain what it's all about. And one thing I've stopped doing is saying in all our collateral that we had before is saying how small we are. You know, in the sense that we have six, you know was a two and a half square miles. To me that's a negative we shouldn't use. I think the fact we're small is a good thing, but when you say the size, people have a negative impression of it.
David Revagliatte:I think it's just a rock, and we're not just. What are we going to do there?
Kevin Bossino:We have so much packed into this little place that it's incredible, and that's the feedback that I get from everybody that we entertain that we bring over. We've had people coming over for literally festival, for example, who have come back again on their own accord because they've loved it so much that they've come back just to see it in their own light, in their own time. I even had a hotel investor that I was trying to think how am I going to sell Gibraltar to them? And I said, oh no, I've been doing it because of the green channel. That helps us a lot, by the way, and he's actually come back on holiday now Because he liked it so much.
David Revagliatte:As a local myself, we grew very proud of Gibraltar. What we have here from a business point of view, what we have here for a tourist point of view, there's so much potential. Your job is huge and the challenge is huge, but the opportunities are great, kevin, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your time today, just before we leave and just before we kind of close the interview. It's a question I ask all my guests so don't hate me for it, because I might put you on the spot. But on a more personal note, like so, when you look back on your experiences today, what's the biggest lesson that you've learned?
Kevin Bossino:I suppose the biggest lesson and maybe it sounds a bit cliche, but it's never be afraid of challenging yourself. You know being in certain roles where I thought you know you step into the office one day and you think, oh my God, what have I got myself into? But then it works out and you know, if it doesn't, you move on and you do something else. You'll never be afraid of failure. That's another one. But generally it does work out and you can achieve greater things, and that goes for the destination as well, by the way. Never be afraid of pushing it. You're always selling and always marketing.
David Revagliatte:So again, thanks a lot for your time. Thank you very much. What's New Gibraltar? So, Michelle, thank you for joining me on this new feature called what's New Gibraltar. Thank you for having me.
Michelle Tavares:No problem whatsoever.
David Revagliatte:There's been loads of transformation, new changes happening at Gib Yellow. That's right. So tell me about it, tell us our listeners all about them.
Michelle Tavares:Okay, well, yeah, we're going through a big transformation so we've made lots of improvements to Gib Yellow website. Gib Yellow is the directory where we have all of the local businesses listed, but we have so many more features to the site now. We have a lot of useful local information, so it's becoming a local hub of information for Gibraltar and for businesses. We have lots of new features to enhance the exposure that businesses get from being listed in the directory. We have features like deals and articles and classifieds that can all go towards enhancing businesses' exposure throughout Gibraltar. We have lots of new SEO facilities on the website which not only improve how businesses can be found within Gibraltar and local searches, but are also really valuable towards the businesses SEO on Google and being found by a wider audience inside and outside of Gibraltar. So some exciting times at the moment. Lots of improvements.
David Revagliatte:Brilliant, so is the site live now.
Michelle Tavares:Yes, it is. The platform has always been live, but we upgraded and put the new version out in June. It's been really well received. We still get in the region of around 30,000 visitors a month to the Gibraltar website, so it's very well used locally. And we have an exciting feature on the horizon, which is also the launch of a mobile app which is due to come out in the coming weeks.
David Revagliatte:Oh well, so thank you for sharing that insight as to what's happening new at Gibraltar. And, yeah, if you haven't already, check out Gibraltar and keep an eye out for that app as well.
Michelle Tavares:Yeah, lovely. Thank you for having me.
David Revagliatte:So that's it. That's a wrap for this episode of the Gibraltar Business Podcast. Thank you to my guests, kevin Bossino and Michelle Tabares, as well as our sponsors, the Gibraltar International Bank. I'd like to thank everyone who contributes to the project and keeps this podcast going from strength to strength. Matthew, our sound producer, has recently been signed by a record label. Now, as well as doing this, he's an amazing music producer, creates all his own tracks, so I couldn't be happier for him. Congratulations you, superstar. I'll include some links to his music when I share this episode, so keep an eye out for them and please, please, support him by following him. Thank you for tuning in. I hope you found this episode informative, engaging and entertaining. If you want to contact the show or you want to chat with me directly, please do so on any of our social channels. So for this week, it's a goodbye from me. Remember, keep striving for success and stay focused on your goals. See you next week.