The tourism industry has experienced a net loss of around €10 million over the past five years, Malta Hotels and Restaurants President Tony Zahra said this morning.

Speaking during the presentation of the industry's results for the first quarter this year, Mr Zahra said the loss would reflect in years to come when refurbishing and renovation came up. This was needed at least once every 10 years.

He warned that sustainability did not only affect investors but the whole economy as without hotels there would be no tourism industry, no employment and no government revenue.

Mr Zahra said the results for this year showed a decrease in arrivals when compared to the first quarter last year. He recalled he had warned this would be the result of a reduction in seat capacity by 50,000.

He noted that seat capacity for April to October was the same as last year and the load factor for April and May surpassed that of 2011 with the industry making up lost ground.

The results show a 10.9 per cent drop in arrivals over the same period last year but a 10.1 per cent increase over 2010.

There was an eight per cent drop in guest nights over last year but an increase of 11.4 per cent over 2010 and a drop of 2.5 per cent in tourist expenditure compared to the same period last year.

Occupancy rates at five star hotels was 46.9 per cent (51 per cent in  2011) 59.5 per cent in four star hotels (64.1 per cent in 2011) and 46.6 per cent in 3-star hotels (50.7 per cent in 2011).

Mr Zahra stressed the need for yield managed and told hoteliers:

"Do not panic, do not lower your rates unnecessarily, in our business, every euro less revenue is a euro less on your bottom line, period."