If Air Malta collapsed, the tourism sector would lose its soul and the economy would fail, Matthew Pace warned yesterday in his first speech since he was elected president of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association.
Speaking at the presentation of the BOV/Deloitte survey for the second quarter of this year, Mr Pace said MHRA commended the efforts of the airline’s board of directors.
“However 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.”
Mr Pace also had tough words for the authorities. Stakeholders and the government, he said, recognised the importance of tourism as the motor of the country’s economy and social development, however the route that had led to this positive scenario was not an easy one.
“We still come across people in authority who don’t understand that tourism is a very dynamic sector and a delayed or erratic decision may be fatal not only for tourism operators and our employees, but more significantly for the nation’s economy.”
To achieve sustainable growth there was need of a more concerted effort by all stakeholders and from a government perspective this went beyond the support given by the tourism ministry and authority.
“Indeed, we still come across decision makers from the public services 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 in a “bureaucratic labyrinth that hinders implementation”.
Restaurateurs were for instance still in the dark after years of calling for a policy to regulate structures for al fresco dining which respected the surroundings and pedestrians.
Mr Pace also referred to the Institute for Tourism Studies, which seriously needed government support for a major restructuring programme that would transform it into a Mediterranean centre of excellence.
Mr Pace said the good news was that Malta had a lot to offer to new travellers, however, it lacked concerted efforts by the authorities to facilitate sustainable growth in tourism. Tourism required a holistic government approach and MHRA had proposed the setting up of an Intergroup on Tourism in Parliament to monitor political developments likely to impact the sector.
Meanwhile, presenting the quarterly results for Deloitte, David Bonnet noted that there were no surprises in this year’s second quarter while the summer season had continued to deliver positive results.
Total arrivals between April and June increased by nine per cent on last year, while the guest nights increased by 8.7 per cent.
The tourism sector had continued to report improvement and all sectors saw increases in their gross operating profits, most notably four-star hotels at an increase of nearly 17 per cent.