The government was considering capping the amount of bed tax that English-language students would have to pay during lengthy stays, the Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Mario de Marco said yesterday.

Dr de Marco staunchly defended the new 50c tax per guest night, which comes into force in April, saying "this tax does not render the country uncompetitive". This was one way the government could collect revenue without taxing the operators in Malta, he said.

He said similar taxes existed in several tourism destinations, including in Europe, and that the average tourist visiting for nine nights would just have to pay an extra €4.50 on the bill. However, with regard to long-term students he said the government understood this tax would run into substantial amounts so it was prepared to consider introducing a maximum amount that could be paid.

The tax came under fire this week from the hoteliers and travel agents' associations, which urged the government to reconsider the move.

The Federation of English Language Teaching Organisations of Malta (Feltom) also opposed the bed tax saying it would be hammering another nail in the coffin of the language teaching industry.

The tax would not only affect hotels but also host families and self-catering apartments.

Julian Cassar Torreggiani, a Feltom board member and owner of a language school, said Malta attracted students from Russia, Japan and South Korea who come to study English for one or two years.

He said the Maltese language school industry was already fighting the weak sterling and this tax "would only serve to dissuade potential students from coming to Malta. We stand to lose further to our English competitors".

Reacting to the industry's angry statements earlier this week, the Finance Ministry said spending on tourism was double what it was 10 years ago and revenue from this tax would only constitute a fraction of that amount.

Dr de Marco said he did not expect any form of collection of revenue to be popular. However, people had to realise the government was constantly increasing the amount it spent on the tourism industry.

He said that in 2009, the government had allocated €26 million, then topped it up by €2 million because of difficult circumstances and later put in a further €2 million, apart from other tourism related expenses.

"This year, the government allocated the Malta Tourism Authority €31 million, a record sum, which will go towards marketing and increasing the route network towards Malta," he said.

"The government has to collect revenue to make up for this expenditure. The 50c tax is getting the tourists to contribute rather than tax the hotelier or the language school operator to get this additional revenue.

The additional money is being spent on getting more tourists to Malta and these additional tourists will make the hoteliers happy," he added Dr de Marco said what hoteliers and language schools were opposing was not the principle of taxing tourists but rather that they would be collecting this tax and passing it on to the government.

"The government's intention was never for the hoteliers to pay the tax themselves," he said.

With regard to the fact that contracts for summer had already been signed and did not include this additional tax, Dr de Marco said the industry had known about the introduction of this tax for nearly 18 months and had enough time to make plans.

Asked whether the tax would have to be collected by the operators, including hoteliers and language schools owners, Dr de Marco said these were details being ironed out by the Finance Ministry.

Meanwhile, the tax was also shot down by Labour's tourism spokesman Marie Louise Coleiro Preca who urged the government to listen to the pleas of those involved in the industry.

On its part, the Malta Tourism Society said it hoped the extra cash being generated from this tax would be used to upgrade the tourism product.

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