The tourism sector would lose its soul and the Maltese economy would fail if Air Malta collapsed, Matthew Pace, president of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association warned this afternoon.

He was speaking  at the presentation of the BOV/Deloitte tourism survey for the second quarter of this year.

"We want to stress that the Air Malta challenge is not confined to the operators of the airline but needs to be shared and supported with a great sense of urgency by all of us stakeholders," he said.

In his maiden speech, the new president also had tough words for the tourism authorities.

He said stakeholders and the government recognised the importance of tourism as the motor of the country's economy and social development, however the route that led to this positive scenario was not an easy one.

"We continue to come across people in authority who do not understand that tourism is a very dynamic sector and a delayed or erratic decision may end up being fatal not only for us tourism operators and our employees, but more significantly to the nation's economy."

He said that in order to achieve sustainable growth there was a need of  a more concerted effort by all stakeholders.

From a government perspective, this went beyond the support by the tourism ministry and authority.

"Indeed we still come across decision makers from across the public service and government agencies who take matters for granted when addressing the sustainable development of the tourism sector."

There had been "endless goodwill passionate speeches", detailed studies and creative promotional tag lines, only to get lost into a "bureaucratic labyrinth that hinders implementation".

For instance, Mr Pace said, restaurateurs were still in the dark after years of calling for a policy that regulated structures for al fresco dining, which respected the surroundings and neighbours.

Malta, he said,  still lacked the necessary structures to ensure efficiency. The French Embassy in China, for example, issued a travel visa in no more than 48 hours, while Malts's embassy took no less than 15 days.

Mr Pace also referred to the Institute for Tourism Studies, which, he said, seriously needed Government support for a major restructuring programme to transform it into a Mediterranean centre of excellence.

Presenting the quarterly results Deloitte, David Bonnet noted that there were no surprises in this year's second quarter and the summer season had continued to deliver positive results.

Data for total arrivals between April and June, compared to the same quarter of last year showed an increase of nine per cent, while the guest nights, including collective and private sectors increased by 8.7 per cent.

Mr Bonnet said that during the second quarter of this year, the tourism sector continued to report improvement over the same period last year, and all sectors had increases in their gross operating profits.

In the three and five-star sectors, the Gross Operating Profit per Available Room increased by nearly 12 per cent as a result of increased occupancy.

However the most notable improvement was that if the four-star sector there was an increase of 16.8 per cent.