Missing out on the Powerboat P1 circuit next year would be a "terrible loss" to the sport, particularly if Maltese racing driver Aaron Ciantar was again crowned world champion in Sicily next week, the Malta Powerboat Federation has said.
"Can you imagine that the world champion cannot compete in his home land. It would be a great pity," said federation president Teddy Borg. Mr Ciantar, whose achievements have helped boost the sport in Malta, is leading by 29 points and just has to maintain that lead to win the title.
The federation is still hopeful that the powerboat championship would be held in Malta next year despite that fact that it is not on the event's provisional calendar for 2010.
Ongoing negotiations between the Powerboat P1, the government and organisers revolve around the event's financing and industry sources said the tourism authority was weighing the importance of the event, claiming its loss would "not make a huge difference" and that the money could be put to better use.
However, the Malta Tourism Authority yesterday denied it was doubting the benefits of the event, saying it has been supporting it for the past six years. The event, it feels, "adds value to the diversity of Malta's product offer, contributing to sports tourism and enabling it to gain exposure overseas, not only because the participants are from various countries but also because of the exposure the race has on foreign TV channels".
The issue of Malta's presence on next year's racing calendar was due to a request for "significantly more" financial support than the MTA and the Malta Sports Council gave this year, the authority said.
"We are in negotiations with the organisers to find a mutually acceptable way forward," it said.
Mr Borg too insisted that "thousands and thousands follow the sport. Malta would lose out on serious promotion, with the P1 being covered extensively in live transmissions on Rai, Sky, Eurosport and in the US, with millions of viewers".
Born seven years ago, he said it has been increasing in popularity and insisted that "nothing is lost yet", even though he is aware of the "haggling" with the P1 organisers.
"We hope everyone will come to their senses and see how to work this out," he augured.
The loss of the event would be even more of a "bitter pill" seeing as Malta will be hosting the 2010 general assembly of the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM), "the powerboat equivalent of FIFA". The event, which Malta has managed to attract to its shores, will gather the representatives of powerboat racing from 51 countries worldwide, bringing over 400 guests.
According to Mr Borg, running the P1 requires "millions of euros because of the hundreds and hundreds of people involved. The logistics are also really expensive because the boats have to be transported from one country to another. You even have to erect a 'village' and all this generates jobs for the Maltese.
"The Powerboat P1 event has been good to us, coming to Malta since 2004, also thanks to the government sponsorship," he said.
"The problem is that industry does not give us a push. We need a good sponsor, other than the government, so the event would not be totally reliant on it," Mr Borg said.
He insisted that Malta was the "best venue and the most frequented. While others continued to change, Malta stuck and clicked. Other venues were attractive but nothing beats Grand Harbour. The public and the P1 love it and it is the pilots' favourite too".
For the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, however, the Powerboat P1 World Championship is "welcome" only if the Finance Ministry gives the MTA extra funds for the event and not if the sponsorship is bitten out its marketing budget.
"It is a good event but the MHRA would like an independent analysis of the amount of tourists it attracts to Malta to be able to predict its viability, which also includes TV coverage," association president Kevin De Cesare said.
"The MHRA needs to ensure that funds are increased next year as it will not be an easy one and the Finance Ministry should be aware that trimming tourism budgets would have a disastrous effect," he said.