The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association this morning accused the Transport Ministry of being indifferent to the concerns of the tourism industry over the way the new bus fares structure was drawn up.
It said that a statement issued by the ministry yesterday completely evaded the issues it had raised.
"The MHRA has stressed that to its knowledge there is nowhere in Europe where Non local ID card holders are charged more then local ID car holders for using public transport. The Ministry of Transport ignored this issue and the damage that will be caused if this measure is implemented," the association said.
It said that instead, the ministry had dedicated most of its statement to underline how competitive ,or rather cheap, the bus fares would be for tourists.
"MHRA did not go into the merits of how cheap or not the fares will be, as this is not the point at all. MHRA’s legitimate concerns are about the fact that tourists, as commuters of the public transport, will be asked to pay higher fares on the basis of their nationality," the MHRA said.
"The Ministry then tried to justify their action by stating that the meeting held with the members of MHRA, higher prices were indicated as likely to be charged. The Ministry fails to state that MHRA did not go into the merits of pricing, what it is objecting to, is the selective targeting of tourists for higher rates.
"MHRA restates that to its knowledge Malta will be the first country in the EU to have different prices for tourists to locals. MHRA certainly was never consulted on this and would have protested in the strongest manner had it been," the association added.
It added that the fact that the Ministry of Transport referred to MHRA’s reaction as “hysterical”, showed how detached the ministry was from the realities and the risks associated with the tourism industry, and how insensitive the ministry was to the anticipated reactions of approximately 1,100,000 commuters of the public transport.
"The MHRA cannot understand the logic behind the decision that a tourist or anyone not in possession of a local ID card that boards a bus, is made to pay a different fare than the rest of us. We reiterate that in the past bus drivers were taken to court for charging more to tourists then to locals," the association added.
It acknowledged that the government had to address the needs of local commuters, but this was not the way to do it, the association insisted.
"The government should have introduced a system based on a uniform system of bus fares, and the introduction of a scheme for commuters, favouring frequent users, pensioners, students and so on, whom can apply for, or buy a card that entitles them to discounted bus fares. This is the system which is widely used across Europe."