Hoteliers believe Air Malta has to be "hived off from political pressures" but are against full privatisation because this could lead "to loss of control".

In the wake of positive tourism results for 2011, Tony Zahra, the president of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association said Air Malta's restructuring was one of the challenges the industry faced this year.

He was speaking this afternoon at the presentation of the fourth quarter tourism results by Deloitte.

Mr Zahra said his association supported the restructuring efforts and posited the Bank of Valletta model as a possible solution to make Air Malta viable and profitable. "Perhaps the answer lies in a similar arrangement that exists at present with Bank of Valletta whereby government has a minority stake and the company operates independently of political pressure."

He said it was strategically important for Air Malta to be retained as a national airline.

The figures showed that tourist expenditure increased by €100 million last year in what Mr Zahra described as "a year to remember". The positive results were obtained despite the international economic turmoil and a war in Libya.

But economic problems across Europe were also a source of concern in 2012, Mr Zahra added, as Malta's source markets were feeling "the very cold draught of recession".

"This could have an effect on bookings, making this year (2012) an even more, late booking year than previously," he said.

This created two challenges: Malta had to retain the same numbers of

2011 and possibly increase these, and resist attempts by tour operators to reduce room rates as this will eat into the meagre profitability.

Mr Zahra said more investment in marketing and accessibility related strategies and new ways of communicating through different media, was needed. "Looking in the rear view mirror should motivate us to look ahead with the right enthusiasm to overcome the ever forthcoming challenges," he said, in what he defined as a jibe at Air Malta chief executive Peter Davies, who reportedly said that he did not like looking in the rear view mirror.

Mr Zahra complained about the state of some roads and the delays in construction projects, describing the situation in Gozo as "a joke". "We cannot have product Malta resemble Syria or Lebanon."

A presentation of figures by Raphael Aloisio from Deloitte painted a positive picture but it also came with some blots of concern. While arrivals in 2011 increased in the first four months when compared to the previous year, arrivals dipped in August.

However, hotel rates continued to recover when combined with the level of accommodation. Five star hotels saw their room rates go up to €67.80 from €54 while four star hotels saw rates go up to €34.70 from €30.10 and three star hotels saw room rates go up to €22.30 from €19.80.

Notwithstanding last year's records – the net results were significantly better than 2009, which was a dismal year – gross operating profit levels were still below the achievements in 2007 and

2008 for both five and four star hotels.

In the three star category, although results were better than 2009, they were still worse than 2010.

Mr Aloisio said that the outlook by hoteliers for better occupancy rates this year was somewhat muted, with four star hotels having the most optimistic view.

A trend analysis of tourism statistics, Mr Aloisio said, easily showed that Malta avoided hitting the bottom like other European countries embroiled in economic turmoil because of government's sustained efforts to invest in tourism.

The conference was also addressed briefly by Peter Portelli, an official from the Tourism Ministry, who gave an overview of the tourism policy that should be finalised by the first half of this year.