Tourism results for the second quarter of 2008 have shown that the first half was among the strongest shoulder seasons in the last six years but future prospects may not be as rosy, with September predicted to end at about 3.5 per cent below 2007 and August having been more challenging.
Tourist arrivals and guests nights in the second quarter increased by 11.4 per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively, according to the BOV Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association survey, meaning a growth of 15 per cent and 7.7 per cent for the first six months over 2007.
At 557,000, tourist arrivals in the first six months were the highest in the last six years, the survey showed.
The results were encouraging, despite turbulent international conditions, doing justice to the government's commitment to supporting the industry, MHRA president Kevin De Cesare said.
But he expressed concern about the winter season ahead, saying forecasts indicated that last year's growth would be hard to surpass. Next winter should be seeing 30,000 fewer seats, which would translate into 20,000 fewer tourists.
His sentiments were shared by the findings of the survey that showed negative predictions by operators for the months ahead: 70 per cent of five-star hotels were not confident about occupancy prospects.
On the other hand, however, each category predicted that room rates would remain stable, or improve.
The survey showed that the average length of stay fell by six per cent in the second quarter of the year, necessitating an even greater increase in tourist arrivals to maintain guest-night generation growth.
Tourist expenditure dropped by 1.6 per cent but each hotel category still achieved a healthy increase in room rate.
Overall occupancy rose to 78.3 per cent but five-star hotels registered a drop of 7.4 per cent also due to the 21-per-cent growth in bed stock for that category.
Higher occupancy levels and room rates led to improved profitability for the four- and three-star hotels but overall profitability was marginally down.
With regard to international benchmarking, the survey found that Malta was up by 1.7 per cent in terms of occupancy over its European counterparts and was performing significantly better on room rate growth.
In view of future prospects, Mr De Cesare appealed to the authorities to take immediate action in the form of a heightened marketing effort and spend.
If not, he insisted, winter would be lost and nothing could then be done to reverse the situation. On the other hand, if the government allocated the right funds to the Malta Tourism Authority to embark on a stronger marketing campaign, last year's figures could even be surpassed, he said.
He called on the government to invest in opening more routes and increase flight capacity - particularly in the light of an estimated 3.5 per cent fewer seats available for winter - and to tackle the product problem, which was constantly cropping up. The disastrous state of the environment and its effect on five-star tourism was also raised from the floor and Mr De Cesare reiterated that the issue of cleanliness remained unresolved.
"We cannot keep on burying our heads in the sand," he insisted.
The MHRA also asked the MTA to look into the matter of the highly-toxic bus emissions and request the Malta Transport Authority to indicate what measures it has taken in response to reports.