Hoteliers and restaurateurs have insisted that energy provider Enemalta should be held accountable, saying they have had enough of funding inefficiency.
“Enemalta Corporation is a problem and should not be politicised. We are funding inefficiencies and being charged for every single cent it spends, even for the return on investment,” the president of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association president, Tony Zahra, said yesterday.
“This model needs to be changed. We can no longer fund inefficiency because we cannot fund our own refurbishment projects.”
He was speaking at the end of a present-ation on the results for the third quarter of the year, the most important three months for the tourism sector.
Figures showed that while arrivals and bed nights had increased, hotels were faced with higher energy costs, which were partly neutralising the good news.
Five-star hotels saw energy bills rise by more than five per cent while four-star hotels’ energy bills increased by more than seven per cent.
Mr Zahra said the association had requested a meeting of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development to specifically discuss the problems at Enemalta.
He said his association expected Enemalta to be a more transparent organisation. It should give social partners a biannual update on the energy situation and also submit to the MCESD its plans and projections for the next five years.
Moreover, the association expected political parties to dedicate a whole chapter of their electoral manifestos to accountability and responsibility.
Mr Zahra said hoteliers and restaur-ateurs were frustrated that they were “giving a lot to the economy” but “getting nothing in return”.
Thirty-four per cent of the Government’s income was coming directly from this sector and the State was raking in a third of every €100 tourists spent on the islands.
“We invested a lot of money, time and effort in our businesses and we can make things happen in the tourism industry. We have not given up on receiving the two per cent reduction in the VAT rate on hotels and a reduction in energy bills by 4c per kilowatt hour, as we had requested before the Budget.
“We are hoping Father Christmas comes in the form of the Finance Minister this Christmas,” he quipped, referring to Tonio Fenech as “Scrooge”.
Deloitte’s Raphael Aloisio said hotels had seen their operating profits grow this summer thanks to increased arrivals, guest nights and better room rates. The survey, covering July, August and September, showed that occupancy increased by 4.3 per cent in five-star hotels. Conversely it had dropped by 1.7 per cent in four-star and risen by one per cent in three-star accommodation.
Gross operating profit soared by 10.5 per cent, eight per cent and nearly 12 per cent in the three respective categories. But even overheads went up, mostly related to energy, property costs, marketing and administration.
The four-star sector saw the cost of the latter increase by 45 per cent.