Four-star hotel closes down

A four-star hotel in Qawra, Island International, has closed down, with 25 staff being laid off.

Edmond Bartolo, the group manager for owners Tarcisio Galea Group, said it had been getting harder to make ends meet.

"We only had a small number of rooms and occupancy kept going down, while costs were escalating. There was also pressure on us from the Malta Tourism Authority to upgrade, while at the same time, tour operators were trying to get us to cut rates. It was just not feasible to continue," Mr Bartolo said.

The owners have already sold the Island International, which is just off the seafront at Qawra, although the new owners are not expected to retain it as a hotel.

Mr Bartolo said the money from the sale would be used to refurbish the group's other hotel, the Ramla Bay Garden Hotel. A Lm1.5 million upgrade is scheduled to start next November to ensure the future of this hotel.

The Island International had 93 rooms and a swimming pool and had been open since 1988.

The Union Haddiema Maghqudin's section secretary, Lino Vassallo, said the employees would be receiving all that was due to them.

The General Workers' Union had warned at the end of 2003 that seven three-star and four-star hotels would be closing down this year.