MTA booking engine is illegal competition, firm claims

Inspire Ltd, operator of the website and booking engine choosemalta.com, yesterday filed a judicial protest in the First Hall of the Civil Court against the Malta Tourism Authority for launching a similar booking engine in what it termed "an abuse of power", being also the regulator of the tourism sector.

The MTA was entering "a conflict of interest" with other licensed operators, the company claimed.

Choosemalta.com, which is licensed under the appropriate law, has a booking engine through which holidays in Malta can be planned and paid for online.

Last August, the judicial protest states, the MTA issued a call for those interested in the development of a similar website, offering the same services as choosemalta.com. It upgraded its website visitmalta.com, operated by Visitmalta Ltd, from merely offering information about Malta to incorporating a booking engine on January 19.

The MTA owns 99 per cent of Visitmalta Ltd shares and one of this company's directors is the authority's CEO David Mifsud, the protest highlights.

The activity of visitmalta.com was identical to that of choosemalta.com and, therefore, required a licence which, if granted, would have had to be issued by the MTA itself, according to chapter 409 of the Laws of Malta.

This, in itself, constituted an abuse of power on the part of the regulatory body, it was held. The MTA was responsible for issuing licences to tourism operators and could not, therefore, issue one to itself.

Inspire maintained that it was facing unjust and illegal competition from its own regulator, which would translate into considerable financial damage for the company.

It was, therefore, holding the authority responsible for any damage suffered, while asking it to review its position and stop operating its booking engine through visitmalta.com or any other website, observing its obligations as a regulator of the tourism sector.

While hotels and any other companies selling services through visitmalta.com would benefit from an additional selling channel, Visitmalta Ltd was now acting as an incoming travel agent, generating commission and revenue from the system.

As a regulator, the MTA should not be allowed to be a market player and compete with the industry. If Visitmalta Ltd was operating without an incoming travel agent licence, this was illegal. If, on the other hand, the regulator issued a licence to itself, it would be considered an abuse of power, Inspire argued.

Among other secondary issues was the fact that every licensed travel agent had to pay an annual fee to be used by the MTA to promote Malta.

"Should we be paying to promote Visitmalta Ltd?", the company questioned.