Minister's 'partisan' speech condemned

The Labour Party's spokesman for Air Malta, Joe Cuschieri, condemned the "partisan" speech made by Investments Minister Austin Gatt at the start of the Amitex fair.

Mr Cuschieri said he was dumbfounded how Dr Gatt refrained from mentioning the purchase of the Avro RJs and the investment in AzzurraAir which, the Labour spokesman said, brought the national airline to its knees.

Dr Gatt also failed to mention the fact that Air Malta was now selling the assets that had brought it so much success in the past.

"What is the government going to do to reduce the travel taxes which brought a drastic reduction in Maltese travellers?"

Mr Cuschieri said many of those present at yesterday's opening speech were ashamed at the way a civil event had been turned into a partisan one.

Philip Fenech, president of the hospitality division of the Chamber of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises - GRTU, described the minister's speech as very worrying as it was practically recommending a status quo in tourism.

"The only growth in the tourism sector is coming from low-cost airlines, and Malta should not shut this reality out," Mr Fenech said.

The GRTU has been vociferous in its calls for the government to facilitate the entry of low-cost airlines.

Dr Gatt was wrong in saying Ryanair was asking for a subsidy, Mr Fenech said. The low-cost airline was merely adopting a normal business practice wherein it asked for a discounted rate in return for business performance. Ryanair even gave a guarantee it would reimburse the discounted rates if it did not meet its targets.

"The minister is also wrong to claim that low-cost airlines only attract low cost tourists. A recent survey in the UK showed that the majority of Ryanair passengers earned more than £50,000 a year," Mr Fenech said.