Tourism Minister Michael Refalo yesterday welcomed a decision by the British government to halve the GB£20 departure tax for British tourists visiting applicant countries of the EU.

The minister observed during the adjournment of the House yesterday morning that the tax had meant that a British family of four visiting Malta paid £80 even before coming here. In contrast, the departure tax for EU member states was half that amount. As a result of the British government`s decision, that discrimination would be removed from November 1.

Dr Refalo said the tax had been detrimental to Malta`s competitiveness and the Maltese government had had to pump millions of liri for Malta to overcome this hurdle.

Dr Refalo said he had complained frequently over this discrimination and had even agreed with the Cypriot tourism minister for the two countries to put pressure on the UK.

The British government`s decision put Malta at a par with EU member states and gave it an advantage over competing destinations such as Tunisia, Morocco , Egypt, Israel and countries further afield.

Dr Refalo observed that this advantage would be lost once more if Malta no longer sought EU membership, as the Labour Party wanted. This would be hugely detrimental for tourism and for the Maltese economy in general.

The British government had given a gift to EU applicant countries and he sincerely believed that most of those who worked in tourism understood that accession of the EU would be beneficial for them and for the whole of Malta since everybody benefited from tourism.

Come the EU membership referendum, he was sure Malta would not throw away this gift, Dr Refalo said.