The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association is concerned at the "confusing statements being made by government concerning the tourism industry".

In a statement it said that while one day the Prime Minister was encouraging hotel refurbishment and saying that the tourism industry was the main pillar of the Maltese economy, shortly afterwards Parliamentary Secretary Jason Azzopardi stressed that Malta was “not only a tourism destination”. He downplayed the industry's local role and said that tourism did not contribute more than 12 percent of Malta’s gross domestic product.

"MHRA certainly does not deny that Malta’s economy is diverse and that the contribution towards our GDP by various other sectors should not be under-estimated.

"However, if the Prime Minister has just stated that our country’s economy is mainly supported by tourism, it seems incongruent and inconsistent for another high official of the same administration to follow this up with an opposing statement," it said.

MHRA said that the ripple effect created by the tourism sector was far greater than that produced by other sectors in the economy.

Tourism indirectly supported in a substantial manner a number of service sectors such as restaurants, transport, retail, financial services and to a lesser extent the real estate sector.

"The true overall impact of the tourism sector should not be minimised, but rather as the main pillar of the Maltese economy it should be supported, upheld and given the importance it rightly deserves," it said.