Hotels record steep drop in February arrivals

IF I AM NOT MISTAKEN,
MALTA REQUIRES JUST 006% OF THE WORLD TOURISM MARKET
TO ACHIEVE 1MILLION ANNUAL ARRIVALS....................

THANK GOD THAT WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE
TO PROMOTE / SELL ONE OF THE LARGER DESTINATIONS!

Some of us appear to be missing the point. Malta remains uncompetitive due to inflated landing charges, etc. It is not about whether we are in recession locally, but about whether any preparation was undertaken in the pre-amble to our officially getting there.

Well, guess what - there's worse to come.

G Frendo.......i think you're one of those living in Planet Gonziiiiiiiiii no problems at all......if for you this is winter go back to school and practice seasons....

If Alfred Sant was in goverment today you'll pobably say that it's his fault ..............Halluna nghixu. Ask restaurant owners bar owners and then speak....

I told you!! He never hid that from anyone

With all due respect to him and you, he seems to be hiding even now! There simply IS no explanation/plan of action indicating what is to be done to get out asap

>Overseas investment has exploded since we joined the EU

again, with all due respect, IF this were the case then we'd be MOVING FORWARD not as the statistics show (on a DAILY basis) we are way down the plug hole.

How can we have 'explosions' of investment and yet our deficit is ever growing at an ALARMIMG rate (even though everyone seems to be fast asleep??)

> this is not a 'GonziPN' doing but a worldwide phenomenon

Agreed .

BUT!!!

It is 'GonziPN' RESPONSILITY nevertheless: the buck stops right on that particular desk.
(The buck btw comes with the job).

Whether you like it or not (and it seems that you don't..).

>perhaps you don't bother keeping abreast of what happens outside your little village!

Hahahaha...

joker to the last, I see.

Yes,I admit.

I need someone like you to explain:

-Investment is 'exploding' and we're going backwards
-Anyone BUT GonziPN is to blame!!!

Right...

:)

It would appear that the ill wind known as the global credit crisis is finally hitting Malta.

Malta sadly could not remain untouched. The bottomline is that most of northern Europe is in financial dire straits, and that includes ordinary people. These same people who would normally fill the Maltese hotels are not travelling - take a look at the airline business and the falling share prices.

Unemployment is rising across Europe, and people are very slow to spend money on foreign holidays.

More than ever, Malta needs Ryanair and to be as competitively priced as possible.

I am sorry to read about the downturn in trade during the month of February however I am not sure this has been helped by Air Malta not operating direct routes from Glasgow to Malta during the winter season. This has put many people off as they do not wish to travel to other Airports outside their cities and the possibility of a two or three hour stopover in London, making the total flight over 6 hours long. This is the first year I have not been to Malta during the winter. The other downside I am afraid is when you agreed to change your currency into the Euro. Tourists are no longer getting value for their pound and unfortunately many people are now looking for holiday destinations that do not use the Euro. I am only thankful that Britain (so far) has managed to retain its currency. Changing to Euros would be catastrophic for us.

Credit Crunch, Recession and now the Swine Flu!!! Tourism will take a bigger set back!!! This is not what the economy needed at such a difficult moment for the whole world! people will be scared to travel because of the flu. hope they will contain it as much as possible in Mexico. things got worse with this. May God help the world get out of this tunnel and may it see the light very soon. Be Strong, let us find solutions to this problem!!!

@Grech Mintoff
The PM - even during the election campaign - warned that there were signs of problems ahead on the world economy. He never hid that from anyone. Now that it has happened everyone seems intent on blaming the PN Govt for it.

Overseas investment has exploded since we joined the EU - as has our integrity as a nation. Anyone who works in financial services will tell you that there is a gold mine out there. The number of people that work in financial services, IT, egaming and the like has increased steadily every year since we joined the EU. Tourism last year was a record year.

Now we are facing the effect of the recession - and this will happen over the coming months. Brace ourselves - this is not a 'GonziPN' doing but a worldwide phenomenon - or perhaps you don't bother keeping abreast of what happens outside your little village!

John Abela BAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH is what lambs say .its our own fault for following our party what ever they do. look at the letters in here all congratulating a government that is failing us politics is not a foot ball team it is us a lame silly people .. that played into them. more floaters on the rise and i am one of them. good politics what ever color.

@mario borg
You got your break when the PN got us into the EU. Have you taken the trouble to exploit that membership for the betterment of you and yours? The National Day issue does not concern the Govt - it has much more important things to worry about but the PL seem intent on raising these petty issues as they did on 31st March. Then the PL was concerned about a contingent of athletes not voting in the EU election- and the Govt's response, which suits most who will be unavoidably away resulted in hysterical outbursts from the PL! Who is more concerned about petty issues?

@John Abela
If you went to Bugibba last Saturday I am sure it too was BAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH - what do you expect of a summer resort in winter?? Hallina trid!! If that's the best argument you can put up then we really don;t have too many problems!!! Hehehe

>Who said we are riding recession and won't be hit by it?

a) BEFORE: as always, PN, in order to win votes.

We all remember:

- about the "queues of investors" waiting to invest and therefore "pour their money into our pockets" as soon as we join the EU

- and about how well our economy (& children) will fare as soon as join

-etc etc

Notice the utter silence on HUGE economic issues ( can you immagine the PN machine in action if PN was in the opposition & we had headlines like we've had this week re our economy???)

Even the ever-present back slapping has almost become out of fashion...


b) NOW: after having 'won' the votes, we will no doubt hear the usual: "Well things have changed..." in order to avoid the promises made.

As if "things have changed" excuses & exhonorates one from one's RESPONSABILITIES & PROMISES.

Vera pajjiz tal-Mickey Mouse, tal-misthija (jekk jafu kif) u tal-BIZA!!!

At least tell us what the PLANS for safeguarding what is LEFT, in order to pay off the ever increasing DEBTS are: explain a DECENT plan of action that will get us OUT of the mess we are in.

And what about GOZO i was there last Saturday restaurants in MArsalforn BAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

Pity is that the government seems more concerned with which day is better for the national day whether independence day or freedom day.
The same void arguments of the 80's
Please give us a break

@GaleaL
Last year was a record year for tourism - I never saw you congratulate the Govt for that result. Now that tourism is down slightly on the record last year, given the worldwide recession, then no one is surprised but you are probably happy that you can carry on with your crusade against GonziPN i the hope that one day the PL will run this country because it is 'your turn'.

Who said we are riding recession and won't be hit by it?

we are not doomed, its time to turn things around. many a business man relies on the Maltese to sustain there establishments during the winter time. so why not give a boost to the Maltese economy and stop relaying on the tourist to sustain our lively hoods. how can we spend millions more to promote our country when the people in Europe do not have the money to come here? they might afford the flight and a cheep hotel. but how much will they spend while they are here? inject into the locals and they will sustain our bars and restaurants ect.

PN was a sailor in "calm waters" let's see now how they will fare in "troubled waters"

The pity is the people who will not be able to find work... and will have to leave the island.

Property marketed stalled and tourist market shrinking - we are pretty much doomed