The 50c tax on each bed night in hotels will not be postponed again and will be introduced as planned in April, despite calls by hoteliers to shelf the tax that they say will impinge on the country's competitiveness.
The tax was meant to come into force on January 1 but had been postponed to April when it was clear the tourism industry was facing a difficult year.
A Finance Ministry spokesman said the government had no intention of postponing its introduction again.
The bed tax was announced in the Budget for 2009 with a view of implementing it at the beginning of 2010.
However, the decision did not go down well with the tourism industry which see it as undermining the sector. Hoteliers also complained that they would end up being tax collectors, having to pass the levy on to the government.
The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association has repeatedly called on the government to postpone the introduction of the tax a second time.
MHRA president George Micallef has insisted it will create more problems in addition to those already created by the new utility bills.
Addressing an MHRA meeting last month, Mr Micallef said the reasons behind June's decision to postpone were more pressing now than earlier in the year. At the moment, tourists were being more careful about how they spent their money.
When asked about the tax, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said the government had to recoup money to re-invest in the tourism industry.
"We subsidise tourism by €33 million a year. Low-cost airlines are costing the country about €5 to €6 million a year.
"This is taxpayers' money. We need to get the tourists here but at the end of the day there has to be a value. No industry can expect the public to subsidise it indefinitely. Our social responsibility is towards the needy - and not everyone is the needy," he had said.
According to the latest MHRA survey, hotels in Malta are predicting a drop in revenue of €54 million in 2009 when compared to the previous year and are bracing themselves for a further blow with the increase in energy prices.
Announcing the government's decision to postpone the introduction of the new tax to April, Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Mario de Marco said the decision was taken so Malta could remain competitive.
Similar taxes already exist in other European countries such as Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Montenegro, Poland (which is on a voluntary basis), Slovenia, Switzerland and certain municipalities in the Netherlands.
With an average stay of 8.5 nights, this tax would cost a tourist €4.25 for the whole stay. Between January and November last year, Malta achieved 9.5 million nights. With the new tax and the same number of guest nights, the government would rake in €4.75 million in a year.