Government 'fails' in tourism

The government was passive when faced by the crisis in tourism, Labour Party tourism spokesman Evarist Bartolo said yesterday.

Referring to statistics issued on Monday, Mr Bartolo said the government had failed in its aim to attract 70,000 more tourists this year. In fact, the National Statistics Office figures showed that the number of tourists visiting Malta dropped by 2.4 per cent in the first six months of the year over the same period last year.

Mr Bartolo said that while tourist arrivals in Malta went down, tourism to competing countries such as Italy, Greece and Spain had increased by four to five per cent.

The MLP believed the government should make an effort to draft an emergency plan to bring the tourism industry back on its feet, embellish the country, increase service standards, attract more airlines to come to Malta and market Malta better.

Meanwhile, in another statement, Mr Bartolo, together with Labour MPs Carmelo Abela, Leo Brincat and Gavin Gulia, referred to the government's decision to continue issuing a special visa to foreign students studying in Malta.

They said the MLP had long been insisting on the importance on this visa so that such students would not opt to go and study in other countries. However, the government had dragged its feet and a number of students went to study elsewhere, they said.