Easter brings cheer to restaurants and hotels

It was a happy Easter weekend for restaurants, with 65 per cent reporting a good trade, according to a telephone survey conducted by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association.

The survey, carried out among the membership base of over 120 hotels and 300 restaurants, also revealed that hotel occupancy was up by six per cent over last year.

MHRA president Winston J. Zahra said the figures reported by hotels were encouraging when considering that Easter bookings were affected by the Iraq war.

Over the Easter weekend, five star occupancy levels were up to 85 per cent from 83 per cent last year; four star went up to 89 per cent from 81 per cent, while three star occupancy levels dipped to 71 per cent from 74 per cent.

The survey also revealed that advance bookings for next month are encouraging, with all three hotel sectors reporting an expected increase of around four to five per cent in occupancy figures over last year.

The only problem members faced was that they were having to dilute their hotel prices to help attract the business which had been hampered by the Iraq war.

The survey revealed that bookings for catering activities in hotels were also very healthy, with most establishments reporting a good level of bookings for the traditional Easter Sunday lunch.

Results from the MHRA's restaurant membership base also showed that many outlets experienced a good Easter weekend.

Of the restaurants surveyed across different categories, 65 per cent said they had a very good or good Easter weekend; 25 per cent said they experienced fair trade, while 10 per cent said trade was slower than expected.

Lower category restaurants portrayed weaker results than their higher category counterparts.

Speaking on the findings Mr Zahra said the comments on rate dilution of hotel prices were worrying as any dilution ultimately affected the profitability of hotels.

"Unfortunately, many members seem to have resorted to discounting rates, which is not the healthiest of signs. Hopefully, now that the war is coming to an end, at least on television, the travel market will pick up," he said.

Mr Zahra said the issue of the deadly SARS virus was obviously at the back of everyone's mind and it was hoped that this was kept under control and away from Malta.

"As far as the local market is concerned, the fact that the referendum and general election are now out of the way helps people to relax a bit more," he argued.

Mr Zahra said the country now had a certain direction which seemed to have an immediate effect on people eating out.