If you have left it to the last minute to book a hotel room for a break in Gozo this Santa Marija weekend you are out of luck – unless you plan to be out of pocket by a few thousand euros.
Every single hotel room is booked. Well, not quite every one: there is a room available, through the booking.com search engine, at the Ta’ Ċenċ Hotel & Spa in Sannat, and it will set you back €4,500 for bed and breakfast for three nights.
And if you are a family with children don’t bother as the room has space for just two adults.
Times of Malta yesterday tried to find out if there were any hotel rooms available between Thursday and Sunday. The search proved futile.
All the Gozo hotels contacted by telephone had absolutely no rooms left, including the five-star Ta’ Ċenċ and Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz, as well as others in different categories including the Grand Hotel in Mġarr and Calypso in Marsalforn.
A reservations agent in one of the five-star hotels suggested that the only rooms she could offer until September were on weeknights as “all weekends are booked until the end of summer”.
Gozo has always been a popular summer getaway for people from the mainland and this year is certainly no exception.
Major players in the Gozitan tourism industry yesterday confirmed they were expecting the “usual business boom” this year. “Gozo is full-up this weekend,” a restaurateur from Xagħra said. “Everything and everywhere is completely booked and it will be difficult to find a table for dinner in the core hours.”
If one of my farmhouses were empty this weekend it would mean serious trouble for the rest of the year
Self-catering apartments and farmhouses are sold out too. According to a 58-year-old entrepreneur, who owns about 10 farmhouses in different parts of the island, this weekend is the peak of her business.
“If one of my farmhouses were empty this weekend it would mean serious trouble for the rest of the year,” she said.
“Santa Marija is our barometer and this year seems be a good one once again.”
Gozo Channel employees are expected to be among the busiest people on the island this week as the three main vessels will be working round the clock to ferry thousands of cars and passengers.
The company’s usual schedule will be replaced by a shuttle service.
Many Maltese will also take the opportunity to visit Victoria where the feast of Santa Marija will be celebrated.