Tourist arrivals figures worst in six years

Tourist arrivals in the first 10 months of this year were the lowest for six years and the bookings situation remained worrying, Labour MP Joseph Cuschieri told parliament yesterday.

Speaking in the budget debate, he said government funding for tourism had remained stable for next year, as if everything was normal, when the Maltese tourism sector was performing worse than the trend in Europe and the Mediterranean.

He said Malta holidays were being increasingly seen as expensive, and competitiveness was expected to be eroded further with the raising of VAT to 18 per cent, even though this increase was not directly charged on hotels.

The tourism industry needed fresh stimulus to counter local and international problems, Mr Cuschieri said.

Embellishment projects needed to be speeded up, along with work on the passenger cruise terminal and the Gozo ferry terminals, on which progress had fallen behind. Nothing had happened of the proposed new golf course, the Connections or the afforestation projects, and work on the Cottonera project and the updating of the Ta'Qali crafts village had also been delayed.

One could no longer have a situation where warships were given priority over cruise liners in Grand Harbour.

Many valleys, beaches and archaeological sites were in a state of neglect.

In the light of the current difficult situation, the government needed to increase its investment in tourism, which was an important pillar of the economy.