Cynthia Busuttil
'Bleak' situation for northern hotels
Not enough is being done to upgrade the Buġibba/Qawra area - MHRA. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli.
Hotels in the north of Malta struggling to make ends meet are considering transforming their business into old people's homes, a hotelier has told The Times.
Robbie Borg, who owns Qawra's Inn Hotel, said friends in the business suggested he convert his hotel into such an establishment.
Although Mr Borg has decided against this, he yesterday said a handful of other hotels in the area were considering this option as business dwindled and a number were closing shop for a few months.
"The situation has become so bleak certain hotels and restaurants in the Buġibba and Qawra area are not only considering a temporary winter closure but a permanent change of use by abandoning the tourism sector altogether," the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association said in a statement yesterday.
"The authorities and the public may not yet fully realise how precarious the situation has become for many, who have through their huge financial investment and personal risk worked hard to develop our nation's tourism sector, contributed greatly to our national wealth and created so much employment," the MHRA said.
It criticised the authorities for not doing enough to upgrade the area, saying that although a series of "sorely needed" embellishment works were completed last June, the surface had barely been scratched to transform the area into an attractive holiday resort.
The government, in reply, said that while the MHRA statement gave the impression that the majority of the hotels in the area were closing, those closing for maintenance works represented only four tourist properties out of 61 licensed in the northern area. More than 90 per cent had chosen to operate throughout the year.
The closure of some hotels to carry out refurbishment and maintenance during the low season had to be seen within the context of the government's drive to encourage operators to invest in upgrading programmes, it said.
The government statement, issued by the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs and the Parliamentary Secretariat for Tourism, referred to an article published in The Times Business on Thursday which reported that five hotels in the Buġibba area would be closing down for winter.
The MHRA, they said, failed to point out that one of them, the Qawra Inn Hotel, had been ordered to close in terms of an enforcement order issued by the Malta Tourism Authority because it had been left in a state of neglect. This enforcement order is being contested in court by Mr Borg, the owner.
Others would be closing for specific periods to carry out general upkeep and maintenance.
As for the state of the area, a programme of road surfacing and major patching worth €500,000 was carried out apart from various projects to improve the general product, the statement pointed out.
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Paul Sacco
Oct 13th 2009, 17:56
Being also a resident of Qawra, can the Hon Mayor please enlighten us in what ways the Council strives to keep the area as clean as possible - good joke. Do the mayor and councillors never take a walk around the Qawra/Bugibba/St Pauls area? Suffice to say that in the Triq il-Port Ruman area three vehicles have been lying abandoned for months. And what about refuse collection, skips which stink from miles away, etc.
Richard Hubbard
Oct 13th 2009, 17:42
One of the reasons that hotels are not getting the business is the prices, I recently booked a break in the Malta Direct brochure at the particular three-star hotel for what was advertised as a half Board offer when I got my invoice it had been downgraded to Bed & Breakfast for the same money, when I rang the company they said it was a printing error and i would have to pay the difference thus making the holiday expensive, I therefore upgraded to a 4 star Hotel with half board for the same money, How does that work. With the euro behaving as it is Malta is now an expensive holiday destination and must either upgrade its services or cut its prices, sadly we in the UK are not made of money and as much as we love Malta if we cannot afford what you offer then we will go elsewhere. This was the case back in the late 80's but the value for money was re-instated and the tourists came back, one way would be for all Hotels to offer half board on all their packages instead of all this bed & breakfast.
Perit Graziella Galea, Sindku, San Pawl il-Bahar
Oct 13th 2009, 16:56
It is indeed a pity that, whilst the local council continuously strives to keep the area as clean as possible, irresponsible people simply dump their rubbish wherever they feel like and at whatever time they want. I have to say that some of these irresponsible people belong to the commercial sector who instead of keeping the place clean dirty it even more. Hotels and restaurants should have their own private trash collector, but unfortunately, most of them do not!
The Local Council will continue its work in the locality for the benefit of residents, tourists, visitors and all those who have a commercial establishment in the area. A number of schemes issued from the Central Government, under the Parliamentary Secretary for Dialogue and Public Information, have been applied for from the St. Paul's Bay local council. Proudly enough, we have managed to be successful in most of those schemes, benefitting from over 100,000 euros from such schemes.
Perit Graziella Galea, Sindku, San Pawl il-Bahar
Oct 13th 2009, 16:55
It is, for sure, not a pleasure for me that commercial establishments in the area are closing. However, I do not think that the closing down should be blamed on the local council. The utmost, with our limited budget and resources, is being continuously done to upkeep the area. The summer months, with the considerable increase in residents and visitors is in fact a challenging period for the local council.
Just before the summer months, the Local Council together with the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Communications, the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs, and the Malta Tourism Authority, has carried out works amounting to more than 500,000 euros only in Bugibba and Qawra.
The local council has also placed several pots and decorative lighting along the promenade. Along the same promenade, BugibbaFest was organised for the first time this year, proving to be a very successful weekend for the establishments in the area and for the residents. Apart from this a number of projects are planned in the area, the major ones being along the promenade of St.Paul's Bay and in the Fra Ben Area.
Censu Galea
Oct 13th 2009, 12:02
It is a pity that the photo accompanying the article above is that of street that was supposed to be dug up and rebuilt before summer. In fact the photo shows part of a street which was supposed to be rebuilt by June. This brought about the negative reaction by MHRA which objected to the work being done then.The result was that the street remained as it was for an extra four months, and now work will only start in a few weeks time.
Naturally, the photographer did not know about this fact but people at MHRA know fully well that this is the case.
Once more I appeal to MHRA to come forward and help out to keep the place in a better shape than it is now, especially by ensuring that its members do not leave their rubbish wherever they deem fit, and at whatever time they decide to close their outlets.
Keeping the place in good shape depends on a number of factors, and MHRA operators are not immune to contributing their share.
Miguel Micallef
Oct 13th 2009, 10:45
Malta has more hotels than needed. The extra ones know who they are, they are even making it public. Will they please shut down as they themselves have been crying about for so long?
We do not want to subsidize other people's failed business attempts.
Everyone (maltese and foreigners alike) is looking forward to you closing down. Thanks.