A hotel in Qawra has managed to reduce its energy and fuel consumption by more than a fifth after investing in energy-saving measures and replacing old machinery.

The Dolmen Resort Hotel has just concluded a cycle of refurbishment and is embarking on another €3 million investment to renovate the remaining 200 rooms and some common areas.

Tourism Minister Mario de Marco was yesterday taken around the hotel which has in the past eight years invested some €10 million in a major refurbishment, installing capacitors and 49 solar-water heaters, as well as replacing five old chillers with two energy-efficient ones.

The solar-water heating system cost nearly €180,000 – half of which was funded by a Malta Enterprise energy grant.

This investment saw a 22 per cent decline in fuel consumption and 24 per cent drop in energy consumption.

General manager Alex Pace said the establishment employed other measures that reduced consumption in the long term, including replacing the main entrance sliding door with a revolving one, which keeps the heat at bay in summer and the cold out in winter.

Dr de Marco commended the initiatives by the “landmark hotel in the Buġibba area”.

He said this was a good year for tourism. Recent data showed that November had the eighth consecutive monthly record of passenger movements at the Malta International Airport.

Dr de Marco also compared the first 10 months of this year with figures reached in 2007, a previous record year.

That year, 1.2 million tourists visited the island and spent a total of €1 billion, while up to October of this year 1.3 million tourists had already visited, spending €1.2 billion.

The Government needed to help hotels maintain a sustainable future through refurbishment and energy-efficient initiatives, the minister said. What was better, he asked. To subsidise hotel bills by a fifth or to help them invest in something that decreased their energy consumption by a fifth in the long term?

He noted that the Dolmen took advantage of a number of grant schemes, including €725,000 in tax rebates as part of the business promotion act.

The future was looking good for the tourism industry, he added. At the moment the Malta Tourism Authority had some 100 applications related to hotels – 30 for extensions and 70 for the development of new resorts, including boutique hotels.

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