Hotels: 'Everyone is full'

Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association President Josef Formosa Gauci yesterday confirmed that tourism arrivals were significantly up in June, July and the first two weeks of August, with hotel occupancy last month being "very good" and marking substantial increases on last year's trends.

These increases were also continuing this month, Mr Formosa Gauci said.

The growth in June and July was helped by the arrival of students but was not just down to that, he said, adding that the arrivals were from "everywhere" and "across the board".

The increases have been felt throughout Malta, including Bugibba and Qawra, and even in Gozo, he said.

"Since everyone is full, hotel prices have gone up, meaning better average room rates."

The MHRA president attributed the current success to the various low-cost airlines, including Clickair and Germanwings, and not just Ryanair.

He said the government's decision after Easter to pass on more funding for marketing to the MTA, which had no money left, was also a cause for the increases.

As regards future expectations, Mr Formosa Gauci said increases would continue to be experienced up to October. However, it was too early to talk about winter because of the late-booking situation.

"What is good is that flight capacity is up by 10 per cent now, and it is a case of filling up the planes."

Indications are that tourist arrivals are seven per cent above what they stood at last year - ranking 2007 "by far the best in the past six", said Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech.

He described the situation as "very encouraging" and said it resulted from the fact that the government, the Malta Tourism Authority and the stakeholders were working closely together and taking the necessary decisions.

Increased arrivals, hotel occupancy and levels of expenditure were also the fruit of close collaboration with legacy carriers, in particular Air Malta, more marketing and the continuous organisation of large-scale events on an unprecedented level, Dr Zammit Dimech listed.

Despite the positive figures, however, he insisted that "we now need to keep our feet on the ground and continue to work closely together to ensure the right levels of arrivals and occupancy in winter".

As regards the stakeholders, Island Hotels Group operations, sales and marketing director Winston Zahra was pleased to note that, for the first time since 2001, "things are beginning to turn around and the industry can see light at the end of the tunnel.

"The bottom line is that we are experiencing positive results and should, ultimately, see a growth of over 80,000 tourists over last year - possibly even more due to the start-up of more low-cost routes in October.

"The reality, though, is that we need to keep our feet on the ground and continue to collectively work hard to even out the seasonal spread and grow the industry during the winter months."

If the step to introduce low-cost airlines had not been taken, the industry would have suffered immensely this year, Mr Zahra said.

"We also need to continue working to ensure that our national airline is encouraged to take the decisions that would ensure its long-term survival, Air Malta remaining a key cog in the wheel of our industry."