Hoteliers have again appealed to the government for a rethink of the increases in energy bills after a survey showed sliding occupancy levels for the third quarter.
Despite a rise in tourist arrivals up to September, the increase in guest nights seems to have been taken up by non-hotel accommodation because the three main hotel categories reported lower occupancy levels when compared to the same quarter last year.
In such a climate, and considering that oil prices are falling, the government should rethink the increases on utility bills, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association insisted.
"Once the government was so prompt in raising the cost of utilities and fuel when the price of oil was escalating, isn't it time to have some form of downward levelling, as was promised several times and never yet delivered," association president Kevin De Cesare asked.
He was speaking at a presentation of the latest hotel occupancy survey, which was carried out by Deloitte.
Mr De Cesare said there were challenges ahead that needed to be met by unity, government support and investment.
He warned against a false sense of security based on the positive results in tourist arrivals between July and September. While the summer results were "not as bad as many feared" despite major declines from the UK and French markets, with overall tourist arrivals and length of stay actually increasing, the volume gains did not filter through to hotels. This was because many visitors made use of non-hotel accommodation, so all types of hotels registered lower occupancy levels.
The MHRA called for more UK airline routes and said the Malta Tourism Authority was close to finalising deals to open at least three new routes. The government also needed to invest in the conference business because this segment had such a big multiplier effect on the country.
For the industry to survive, Malta needed to achieve an improvement next summer to make up for the difficult months ahead, Mr De Cesare said. Tourist arrivals in October were down in what was being seen as a clear warning of the challenging period to come.
"The real negative impact of the global market turmoil only began to hit home in October when guest-night generation dropped by 12.3 per cent."
Mr De Cesare said it was time to improve the tourism product by cleaning up the streets, enhancing the state of the roads, upgrade street furniture and removing bottle shops as well as making a final decision on the opera house and City Gate projects.
"These are very delicate times, which call for unity and the avoidance of unnecessary controversies. We are banking on the government's continued full support towards the tourism sector to help us make it through the challenging times ahead. At this moment in time we need an injection of capital expenditure in the country; we need to soften the blow of utility tariffs and the country needs a soft landing," Mr De Cesare said.
MHRA official Winston Zahra said Malta needed to tap into the changes in demand by marketing its product cleverly.
The MHRA called for more marketing, more support for established and emerging routes, sensible pricing strategies and the implementation of an immediate and aggressive product upgrade.
The survey shows that the overall performance for the summer months was in line with that registered over the past few years. Up to last September Malta saw a rise in tourist arrivals and guest-night generation figures of 7.8 and 4.8 per cent respectively. But despite lower occupancy levels, when compared to last year, all categories reported improved average achieved room rates.