MHRA to decide stand on Tuesday

Three studies to be presented at the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association conference on Tuesday will show the tourism sector's likely response to EU membership.

Additionally, the MHRA will also be revealing the results of an EU survey at the conference during which the association will be declaring its official stand on EU membership.

A total of 83 per cent of the association's members responded to the survey, representing 21,000 beds or 54 per cent of the bed stock in Malta, MHRA president Winston Zahra said.

With a collective investment in excess of Lm450 million and an employment base touching 20,000 employees, the MHRA today represents over 120 hotels and 300 restaurants.

The three reports which were commissioned last August have been prepared by Gabriella Pace, director of EuropAdvise together with economists Gordon Cordina, Lino Brigulio and Adrian Borg.

They cover the impact of the EU's acquis communautaire on the tourism sector, with particular reference to costs and benefits for hotels and restaurants (relating to VAT and the euro), employment, and consumer protection.

At the end of the conference, the MHRA will take a non-political stand on EU accession based solely on its studies and "for the benefit of tourism within the national context," Mr Zahra said.

Speakers at the conference include Juan Carlos Ruiz Simon, senior vice president corporate marketing, Occidental Hotels Spain, and Joaquim Cabrita Neto, president of the Confederation of Hotels, Restaurants and Cafès of Europe.

Also speaking are Ronald Gallimore, head of the EU Delegation, and chief negotiator Richard Cachia Caruana.

"The EU decision-time conference promises to be an exciting conclusion to many years of hard work by the MHRA on this national issue," Mr Zahra said.

The tourism industry was the pivot of Malta's economy and the decision on EU accession would be critical to the direction the industry took in future years, he said.