The president of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, Josef Formosa Gauci, sounded a very cautious, if not pessimistic, note when addressing a business lunch organised by his association last Wednesday.

After a very disappointing 2006, he said, the industry wanted nothing less than "substantial growth" this year for it to recover lost ground. He pointed out that although the government had set the target of an additional 50,000 tourists every year for the 2005-2007 period, we were actually 30,000 arrivals below where we had started. To make up, we need to attract 180,000 additional tourists in the remaining ten months of 2007.

Not even the positive increases registered in December last year and in January this year were sufficient to make MHRA optimistic, he said, since the first quarter of this year was still looking sluggish, and they realistically expected only minimal increases this year.

Well, the increases registered recently can safely be attributed, mainly, to the arrival of Ryanair. The Irish low-cost carrier, which just over a week ago started operating to and from Dublin, has carried tens of thousands of tourists to Malta since it started operations at the end of October. Indeed, Mr Formosa Gauci called for more low-cost routes to open.

However, the Prime Minister, who also addressed the lunch, stressed that low-cost carriers were just one component of a holistic product-delivery chain, warning that we should not depend entirely on one airline.

There is no doubt, however, that low-cost carriers can only add to tourism business. Indeed, the Prime Minister himself said that GermanWings, Germany's second-largest low-cost carrier, would start operating from next month, while Air Malta is laying on additional flights to Germany, Malta's second largest market.

Earlier, Mr Formosa Gauci had listed some of the factors contributing to a feeling of pessimism among hoteliers and other tourism operators: the number of hotel closures, the lack of sustained profitability, the bleak future facing three-star hotels, negative feelings in Bugibba and Gozo, especially among owners of catering establishments.

To this one could add the neglect and shabbiness still affecting our physical environment, and the feeling - especially in areas frequented by tourists like Sliema and Bugibba - that Malta is one large building site. The Prime Minister tried to allay these concerns by pointing to the government's efforts to upgrade the infrastructure, which should receive a boost with the infusion of EU structural funds. Much progress, admittedly, has been made here, but the upgrading of the infrastructure must be given priority.

Government has also earmarked more funds to market Malta and Gozo. Gozo, incidentally, should continue to be marketed also as a separate destination - a recent feature on the Travel Channel devoted to the sister island was an example of how it should be marketed.

On the other hand, hoteliers and tourism operators should also make a greater effort to help themselves. One general impression is that many of our services are overpriced. Has any real effort been made to lower prices - and generate more income in so doing? We are often told that high prices are caused by government-induced costs, such as the higher water and electricity rates, but is it possible that all operators in this field are not to blame for the "get-rich-quick" syndrome?

Also, the MHRA president mentioned the bleak future facing two- and three-star hotels. Now that the proportion of potential holidaymakers browsing for bargains and booking their holidays do so on the Internet, perhaps lower-category hotels could get together and offer a joint Website, besides sharing other marketing costs. Similarly with restaurants and providers of other services.

And what about the quality of service? Why should some hotel and catering staff often be so sullen? And why should some bus drivers and taxi drivers be so ill-mannered, and taxi and karrozzin owners be so greedy? Don't they realise that a tourist coming to Malta for a few hours on a cruise ship is a potential repeat visitor who would stay much longer next time? So why rip him off in the few hours he spends here and dash his hopes of returning for a longer stay?

All operators in tourism - from the hotel and restaurant owners to the souvenir shop assistant - must realise that Malta faces intense competition as a tourist resort, so they must be on their best behaviour and truly give value for money. No amount of marketing funds and government aid can buy that.