Take a look around you and you will immediately understand what I mean. Some people get things done and think out of the box when faced with an obstacle. They are passionate, ambitious and genuine. Others enjoy being a wet blanket and their reaction to new situations is a scripted: “yes, but…” These are the assassins of the future.
Things get even more complicated when blindfold partisan politics are drawn in. Such realities put in the spotlight a government’s competence and political astuteness to steer a country towards continuous improvement and, hence, growth.
Indeed, this is no mean task and requires a strong leader and an even stronger executive structure to get a whole country to experience a sense of ambition to achieve more and better than what has been achieved to date. Innovation and determination become the key words here but, there again, it is an uphill struggle.
The Government has published the 2014 pre-Budget document and it is evident that the spirit at Castille is high with feet on the ground. The document presents a clean macro-economic overview through key performance indicators that mark the parameters for an attainable plan.
It also recognises that over the past years our economy has benefited from various good strategic decisions taken by the previous government despite the international economic turmoil. Key among these has been the success built, year after year, in attracting increasing numbers of tourists to our islands, which, in turn, has procured the necessary comfort to our economy to keep on thriving amid global social, political and economic difficulties. But not all is plain sailing!
Significantly, the message in this year’s pre-Budget document is loud and clear: we want more! We want to aim higher! And this is music to our ears.
In the face of difficulty, the worst one can do is to find the right excuse to let oneself drown. And, indeed, many will be those who will come up with voluminous reports and recommendations to tell you what you cannot do and why you should give up your hopes in return for extraordinary fees or fast career progressions. So if we are to aim higher, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna is right to say that the “dead wood” in the public sector has to be removed.
Operators of the tourism industry have a very good feel of the economy because we are at the crux of the wider economy.
Our plea to the Government over the past years to re-invent the way it does its business was not just another cliché but, rather, has been based on factual damage suffered.
In the face of difficulty, the worst one can do is to find the right excuse to let oneself drown
Today, despite the success obtained, the tourism industry is unsustainable specifically because of bad management practices and policies in the energy sector. When we cried out to warn the decision-makers many were those who tortured us with never ending “yes, but...” arguments. But, today, we all can understand the underlying reasons for ‘yes butting’ at the time and sincerely hope we have all learnt the lesson.
Our destination is, however, still far away and the obstacles are not few. In the meantime, our industry is losing blood and requires an injection to ensure that it will keep on sustaining the growth of our economy.
We have repeatedly stated that the number of tourist arrivals to our islands is not the right measure to gauge the health of our industry. And it is in the interest of the wider economic benefit that we are asking the Government to inject hope in our industry. It is in the interest of all entrepreneurs and workers aspiring for better working conditions, better health services and education opportunities for their children that we are and keep on warning the Government to be wise and further invest in our tourism industry.
MHRA is confident that we, as a country, have the right competencies and the will to achieve sustainable growth.
We believe that the solution indeed rests in: 1) better public sector management by engaging the best brains around at executive positions to spearhead the much-needed change and we need to be brave in this matter; 2) spearheading a culture that promotes innovation at all levels, a goal that is being aggressively embraced by the Government through the way it is tackling our energy sources and distribution and the various innovative projects being proposed for consideration including land reclamation and the Gozo cruise terminal, among others; and 3) sustaining a fair and just society.
It is probably still early to assess and pose an unbiased judgement of the Government’s performance on this matter. However, it is evident that the vision and the will are very much there.
All in all, a closer review of the pre-Budget document reveals that, in reality, we do not have the luxury to choose a strategy or road map. Indeed, the only way is up by aiming higher and higher against all odds and all ‘yes butting’!
Tony Zahra is president of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association.