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Tourism's timetable of trouble
Rod Lynch's appointment lasted less than a week
The controversy surrounding Rod Lynch's short tenure as Scotland's tourism chief-in-waiting is only the latest blow to the beleaguered industry.
Last November the Scottish Tourist Board, as it was then known, came in for severe
criticism in a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers
The review had been commissioned by the then enterprise minister Henry McLeish after figures showed the number of foreign visitors coming to Scotland fell by 11% in 1999. It said there was "confusion and ambiguity" among senior managers and recommended a radical shake-up of the organisation, including changing its name to visitscotland
Chief executive Tom Buncle resigned in the wake of the report
Enterprise Minister Wendy Alexander announced a worldwide search
for a new chief executive
Headhunters Heidrich and Struggles were brought in to carry out the hunt for a new boss
However, while that search continued Scotland was caught up in the foot-and-mouth
outbreak
Tourism bosses, particularly in the worst affected area of Dumfries and
Galloway, reported falling numbers of overseas tourists. That prompted a multi-million pound aid package from the Scottish Executive
The executive sent a delegation of ministers, including First Minister Henry
McLeish and Tourism Minister Alasdair Morrison, to America for the Tartan Week
celebrations to convince US tourists that Scotland was open for business
During the event Mr McLeish came under fire when he described foot-and-mouth as a "little
problem"
Days after returning from America, it emerged Mr Morrison was taking an
Easter break in Italy despite encouraging people to spend their holidays in
Scotland
His return on 13 April was met with a storm of protest and he apologised to
anyone in the industry who was offended by his decision to holiday abroad
On 19 April, Mr Lynch was announced as the replacement for Mr
Buncle
However, his appointment to the £145,000-a-year post was overshadowed by the
news he was about to take a holiday in the US, where he said he would be mixing
business with pleasure
That led to a wider political row, in which Ms Alexander was said to have ignored advice to defuse the situation by delaying the
announcement
Less than a week later it emerged Mr Lynch would spend one month a year
working for another company with a role as chairman and chief executive of
Global Supply Systems
On Monday night it was announced that the job offer had been withdrawn.
It emerged on Monday that Mr Lynch - who was announced as the new chief executive of visitscotland just five days ago - would not be taking up the post.
However, the industry - which is also reeling from the impact of foot-and-mouth disease on visitor numbers - has been no stranger to problems in recent months.
 Alasdair Morrison's Italian trip sparked a row
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 Foot-and-mouth hit visitor numbers
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