Hoteliers and other accommodation providers were unsure whether or not to collect the new bed tax, resulting in “price discrepancies and confusion”, the Times of Malta has learnt.
The new eco-contribution, a 50c nightly levy that tourists are meant to pay when visiting the island, was meant to come into force last Wednesday.
It was temporarily blocked, however, by a prohibitory injunction filed in court by the Malta Chamber of Commerce a few hours before. The injunction was upheld and the issue will now be decided in court.
Several hoteliers, who asked not to be named, told this newspaper they were not sure what to do, as they had not been instructed not to go ahead with collecting the tax but had read media reports that it had been blocked.
“The result has been total confusion. We have some providers collecting this, others not. We have people who are unsure how to go about it and tourists who are unhappy with the way this is being handled,” said Genevieve Abela, the chief executive of the Federation of English Language Teaching Organisations.
She explained that the government had sent out official notices to accommodation providers a few days before the tax was meant to come into force, instructing them to begin collection on June 1. No such correspondence was sent out, however, informing accommodation providers not to go ahead with the collection until the issue was resolved in court.
“I’m not sure if we have to collect this or not. We haven’t been told. I decided to collect it for fear that I will be penalised for not doing so. But now I fear that since the tax is not in force, I may be breaking the law by collecting it,” one accommodation provider said. He later added that one of his guests, an English language student, had flagged the matter after discussing it with other students, who had not been charged the contribution.
“I felt like a liar, like I was trying to swindle my guest, even if it is only a couple of euros,” he said.
Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said the applicants of the warrant of prohibitory injunction were to be deemed “solely responsible for the confusion created within the industry”.
The government, he added, had been “geared up and administratively ready” to implement the contribution and remained determined to introduce it.
The contribution is capped at €5 per tourist and is aimed at raising some €6 million annually.
Mr Zammit Lewis said the money raised would go towards maintenance of touristic hotspots.
Another hotelier said he had decided to send an e-mail enquiring about the situation to the Department of Information.
In the correspondence, seen by this newspaper, the DOI informed the hotelier about the court action but failed to instruct him not to collect the tax.
On the contrary, it directed him towards an information page about the levy which, among other things, still advertised June 1 as the contribution’s official introduction.