By the end of next year, the Government would have given Air Malta €55 million to aid in the national airline’s restructuring.
Tourism Minister Karmenu Vella denied Opposition claims the Government was going to sell a stake in Air Malta to Air China.
He said the restructuring plan had remained the same and was being executed by the same management team appointed by the previous administration without any interference whatsoever from the Government.
Mr Vella criticised the way the previous administration negotiated with the European Commission because it did not give enough weight to Air Malta’s strategic importance as a link with mainland Europe.
Turning to tourism, he said the NSO figures bore out the positive trend for the coming months with an expected 1.5 million visitors for 2014. By September, the Exchequer would have raked in €1.258 billion from tourism.
The airline seat capacity, warned Minister Vella, needed to be nurtured to ensure that Malta’s routes were secured.
Malta also needed to address seasonality and fluxes in tourism. The airline had now to spearhead the attraction of high spenders to have a healthier cost-benefit ratio and a decrease in profit leakages.
He said that the cruise liner terminal in Gozo had had a very encouraging response and the Malta Tourism Authority and Gozo Tourism Association were discussing a specific tourism strategy for Gozo.
Mr Vella said despite all the hype about the purported move of the Museum of Fine Arts to the Auberge d’Italie, there had been no serious plans.
He gave his reassurance that the move would take place but only when alternative space for the ministry was found.
Parliamentary Secretary José Herrera waded into several Budget line items to rebut the Opposition’s criticism that various allocations were being drastically cut back from those for 2013. He said that in many cases its speakers had overlooked the fact that the duties of a number of ministries had been redistributed.
The Government was instituting a radical reform in enforcement by introducing a local constabulary soon.
Taxation, which local councils could not engage in, was a bone to contend with. A team had been set up to consult on novel concepts of shared taxation without placing unwarranted new burdens on taxpayers.
Dr Herrera said the effects of immigration were being seriously considered. As an example, Marsa had an indigenous population of 5,000 people, as well as some 2,500 immigrants.
Should the per capita allocation to the local council be based on 5,000 or 7,500?
Dr Herrera said the contracts of “artistic directors” on the V18 Foundation, with costly retainers, had expired. They would be re-engaged on a per-project basis.
Another priority was the Museum of Contemporary Arts. The old power plant at the harbour’s edge was being considered as a location.
The Government had no reservations on the desire for a worthy location to be found for the Museum of Fine Arts, but the Ministry of Tourism was finding logistical problems in the proposed move. The doors to a suitable solution were not closed.
Heritage was also a priority. Next year should see the com-pletion of the rehabilitation of fortifications, the paving of the Collachio in Vittoriosa and the floodlighting of the city’s fortifications.
The impending reform at Mepa would release duties to the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage.
Other speakers taking part in the debate were Opposition MPs Robert Arrigo, Tonio Fenech, Francis Zammit Dimech, Joe Cassar, David Agius, Robert Cutajar and Fredrick Azzopardi and Labour MP Silvio Parnis.