Updated: Tourism needs immediate action - PL leader

(Adds PN's reaction)

Immediate action was needed in tourism with the government being the policy maker and the private sector taking the lead and pushing things forward, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this morning.

Speaking during a business breakfast, he said that had Labour been in charge, it would have been on the ground leading and pushing matters forward.

"You invested you money and you know what needs to be done," he told people in the industry adding that there was a need and an urgency for development in the sector to move in synergy with sustainable development in the country.

The Labour leader accused the Prime Minister of undermining the country's competitiveness and endangering jobs in the tourism industry.

He said the Prime MInister's decision on the water and electricity bills was "an enormous mistake which was difficult to rectify".The people were still shocked because their bills had not been reduced, he said, adding that the rates which had now been confirmed by the Malta Resources Authority reflected a 100 percent surcharge.

Dr Muscat said that to save jobs, the country needed guarantees for the announced tariffs not to go up until the end of the year, a guarantee the Prime Minister did not want to give. He again called for a mini budget so that immediate interventions could be taken.

The party's tourism spokesman, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, spoke on problems being faced by the industry, the lack of competitiveness and the lack of advertising. Areas of strategic importance for tourism, she said, were abandoned.

In a reply, the PN said that with more than 40,000 businesses, including those in the tourism sector, were to benefit from the announced reductions.

The average reductions for businesses and companies was of 25.6 percent. Many businesses were to save 29 percent and families 22 percent.

In his efforts to be negative, the leader of the Opposition did not even acknowledge these reductions.

The PN said that the government was committed to strengthen the tourism industry and increased the Malta Tourism Authority’s budget by €3.5 million in the last budget.

More schemes for low cost airlines to fly to Malta were issued, advertising was increased and the tourism product was being improved with new projects.