Editorial

Malta's tourism industry is hardly ever out of the news. The latest that has come out from the horse's mouth, as it were, is not encouraging, with key people in the industry giving serious warnings of what is at stake if the challenge to see to the sector's immediate difficulties is not taken up with earnest.

Even the Tourism Minister's reaction to comments made by hoteliers sounded weak and unconvincing when considered against the picture presented at a conference organised by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association.

In a way, it is sad that the sector is reporting a "wash-out" for the first three months of the year when the industry, worldwide, has bounced back so well in the wake of terrorism, natural disasters, such as the tsunami, and a string of other obstacles, including Sars. According to the World Tourism Organisation, no fewer than 808 million international tourist arrivals were recorded last year.

So, why is Malta faring below expectations? One leading hotelier, Winston J. Zahra, has described the hotel business in the first quarter of the year as a wash-out. As if this were not enough, one major operator was planning to pull out of Malta and, according to Mr Zahra, another was dropping the same hints.

This is bad news indeed, not just for the hoteliers and restaurateurs but also for the thousands of people that the industry employs directly and for the thousands of others who feed off the industry indirectly.

Hoteliers say they are being seriously hit by increased costs, particularly the rise in energy bills - something that is actually hitting everybody, including manufacturers and, of course, the wage-earner. But, if correct, some of the comments made at the MHRA meeting do not reflect well on the way that matters relating to the industry and to the promotion of tourism generally are being handled by the authorities. The arguments made at the conference reflected the hoteliers' frustrations.

For example, Mr Zahra remarked that the closure of offices overseas and the transfer of their representation to agencies that also sold other destinations was not part of the plan. The plan was, he said, to close the offices to save on administrative costs and employ an aggressive Maltese sales force to go out to the market and constantly sell the destination. This had not been done and they were currently very weakly represented in the feeder markets.

Well, if this is the case, he does have a strong point. Describing 2005 as a "transitional year", as the Tourism Minister did, is not good enough. Malta has to be far more aggressive in its drive than it has shown to be so far. Why is the country taking ever so long to decide on matters that are considered so vital to the industry, such as, for instance, low-cost airlines?

The Labour Party is sensing all this and has promised that if elected it will reduce the burden of taxation on the tourism package within three to six months. No doubt, this sounds music to the ears of all those operating in the sector, but can it be done? The music may fade (or it may well increase for that matter!) by the time of the general election in two years' time, but the industry needs a shot in the arm now.

Greater immediate action on matters that count most, not just by the government but also by the industry as a whole, is preferable to the endless talk about what needs to be done.