Warning over tourism

The Malta Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprise, GRTU, has warned that Malta would be facing serious problems if the tourism industry failed to achieve good results in the summer months.

The GRTU said the government had to seriously tackle the precarious situation by "not letting the industry wane", because many small businesses, like the rest of the country, relied heavily on tourism as a source of income.

"Bars, restaurants, snack bars, cafeterias, nightclubs, gyms, transport companies, car-hires, traders and many other business people expect summer to boost their income, especially because of tourism," the GRTU said.

The association said that although the MTA and the Tourism Ministry had somehow failed in their marketing plan because the proposed reforms had not been implemented, they were still on time to save the situation.

"The GRTU expects the government to take action based on a sound vision, without losing more time. It would be useless to place further burdens on the business community."

In reaction, the Tourism Ministry appealed to those with a genuine interest in tourism to avoid statements that could do "more harm than good" and to work with the government to improve the Maltese product.

It said that in the first four months of this year, the number of tourists leaving Malta amounted to 254,573, a minimum drop of only 0.4 per cent over the same period last year.

Total expenditure by tourists was up by Lm1.5 million to Lm172.7 per tourist from Lm169.

Figures compiled by the airport also showed that in May there was an increase of 4.3 per cent in the number of passengers using the airport.

Indications showed that the seat capacities for April to October increased when compared to the same period last year.

The ministry said Malta was last year visited by 3.5 per cent more tourists than in 2003, registering an additional income of three per cent. This was an even better result than that achieved by competitors in eastern and Mediterranean Europe.

It said the Malta Tourism Authority had, over the past week, met all UK tourism operators individually and the meetings were already bearing fruit and a marketing and publicity campaign will be launched in the UK on the initiative of the MTA.

A similar exercise had already taken place in Germany and Austria. Another is to be held in France.