Tourists complain about two, three-star accommodation

Twenty-five percent of tourists felt that the two and three star accommodation in the Maltese islands was not so good, Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco said this morning.

These tourists, he said, were not unhappy with the level of service but with the physical standards of the accommodation.

He was speaking during an information meeting for tour operations on a subsidy scheme through which the government would fund the tourist accommodation industry 1.5 percent on the interest rate for refurbishment projects and one percent on the interest rate for extension projects.

€300,000 a year for 10 years have been allocated for the purpose.

Dr de Marco said the trends and expectations of tourists were changing. It was important to continue upgrading the product and this did not solely mean the infrastructure but even hotels and catering places.

He said that budget hotels were still needed especially following the economic crisis but the three star category was worrying.

Even the market and clients were changing and whereas the UK was Malta’s strongest market, the Italian market was growing and more Italian than German tourists were expected this year. Thirty percent of tourists were repeat visitors.

Dr de Marco said that although there was a drop in figures in first six months of this year compared to the same period last year, 2008 was the best year with regards to tourism arrivals.

The arrivals this year were at par with the first six months of 2007 which at the time was a record year, he said.