The opposition yesterday urged the government to come up with a short-term action plan to bolster tourism over the coming months.

Labour spokesman Evarist Bartolo said in Parliament that emergency action was needed despite the government's belated publication of the national strategic plan for tourism last Thursday. Urgent action was necessary to bridge the gap until the plan came into force, more so because of worrying projections seen in the latest, so far unpublished, survey by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association.

While official statistics had recorded a 1.4 per cent decline in arrivals in the first five months of this year, the MHRA survey showed that during June five-star hotels suffered a decline of seven per cent. Four-star hotels were down by four per cent and three-star hotels by 11 per cent.

Indicative figures for July showed five-star hotels posting a decline of six per cent. Occupancy in four-star hotels dropped by three per cent and that of three- star by six per cent.

Five-star hotels were projected to retain the same level of business as last year during August but four-star hotels were expected to have a decline of six per cent and three star by four per cent.

The five-star hotels were also expected to hold their own in September, but an eight per cent decline was being projected for four-star hotels, and a drop of six per cent for three-star hotels.

These Mr Bartolo said, were indicative figures which, he hoped, would not materialise thanks to late bookings. The opposition did not derive any satisfaction from seeing the tourism sector backsliding and it did not wish to discourage anyone. Certainly, he disagreed with those who argued that Malta's tourism industry could not recover.

One area which could certainly grow was that of language students, but the country needed to be careful. He could understand those hotels who had opted to accommodate language students this year, but there had been many complaints from ordinary tourists in the same hotels and he feared that this could have had a negative impact on tourism in general. The government had completely mishandled this sector, particularly with regard to the tax situation, but he hoped that the number of host families would increase.

Turning to tourism in general, Mr Bartolo said it was disquieting that competing destinations such as Italy, Spain and Greece were doing much better than Malta. Cyprus had recorded a drop in arrivals, but earnings from tourism had increased.

On the other hand, in Malta, tour operators, who were seeing hoteliers on the ropes, were even pressing them to charge winter prices in summer, something which would be disastrous.

Mr Bartolo said the publication last Thursday of the strategic plan for tourism did not remove the need for urgent action to help tourism.

His first impression of the new plan, which had been due in November, was that much more work needed to be done on it, both with regard to aims and thrust. It also needed to be accompanied by action programmes for the various sub-sectors.

Importantly, however, planning had to encompass the whole country including areas such as cleanliness, the promotion of history and culture and culinary attractions.

The best way to face the current difficulties was to take stock of the effectiveness of tourism-related efforts. It would be a mistake to pretend that everything was being done well, or that whatever was not going well was caused by external quarters. The main reasons were clearly internal. The only external factors were fuel prices, terrorism and fears of avian flu.

The WTO had said that the best ways to tackle difficulties in tourism were to keep control over services and prices, seek new markets and match the demands of the modern tourist. It would seem that Malta was lacking on these fronts.

Tourists did not go only to hotels and restaurants, but sought to get to know as much of the country as possible. Due to Malta's small size it was the whole country that was immediately visible to discerning tourists, not only in terms of cleanliness but also facilities and the product in general. No amount of low-cost airlines could change the picture: what still mattered most was word of mouth by satisfied tourists.

Mr Bartolo criticised the fact that the projected internet portal was still not operative.

He insisted on product development, arguing that tourists did not travel to find a replica of what they had left behind at home. Unfortunately some Maltese thought they were being good and attractive by doing what tourists had at home. Branding was important. A disconcerting statistic was that up to half of the Maltese people had never been abroad. This put them at a great disadvantage in having the right awareness of tourism needs.

Mr Bartolo said decisions on marketing and advertising, as well as overseas representation, needed to be revisited.

Malta also needed to consider how it could become more viable for operators and if necessary they should be given new incentives to make them more efficient and effective.

Efforts should be renewed to give the MTA stability. The organisation had had four chairmen over the past few years. It needed to focus on how to entice more tourists to Malta, and it should not be allowed to become another Mepa.

The strong relationship needed between Air Malta and the tourism sector was well known and needed to be preserved. Indeed, the airline needed to be much better run, with better management of seat capacity.

At the same time the opposition agreed that air connections to Malta should be improved, involving Air Malta, established airlines and also low-cost carriers. A decision on low-cost carriers had been in the offing since April, but nothing had really been done to date and the summer was effectively over. Easyjet and Ryanair were not the only low-cost airlines that could be attracted to Malta: there were smaller ones in Scandinavia, Germany, Italy and Spain, for example, which would have been less demanding and less arrogant. Hoteliers who could charter flights to Malta should also be helped.

Mr Bartolo said comments by the tourism minister on his invitation to Labour MP Karmenu Vella to sit on a consultative group were unfair. It was unjust to make a personal invitation and then to try to give the impression of involving the opposition. Mr Vella should not be criticised for declining the invitation. It was not that he did not wish to contribute but he did not wish to have a conflict with his role in the opposition. Besides, he was already giving more than his fair share for tourism. His information was that Mr Vella had also asked if the opposition would be involved but no reply had been given.

Concluding, Mr Bartolo said he agreed with the calls for an all round effort to help tourism. The opposition was prepared to give its contribution. It wished to see the same sort of cooperation in tourism as existed in the financial services sector.

Labour MP Joseph Cuschieri, who spoke earlier, said the opposition was ready to help the government draw up the emergency plan because tourism performance, seen from whatever angle, was well below projections. This was a situation which would have economic consequences on the country and could not be allowed to fester.

Malta, he said, needed to move forward without having tourism used as a political football.

There was no doubt, however, that all players in the tourism sector were concerned over the current situation. Last year the government committed itself to raise arrivals by 50,000 and fell short. The same was happening against this year.

What is the government doing about this situation?

He hoped that the current situation would not be blamed on the situation in Lebanon and Israel.

Why was Malta not making headway in tourism? Why had EU membership not benefited this sector, despite so many promises ?

Mr Cuschieri said the opposition had been proposing action to help tourism, but it was being rebuffed. Clearly, however, the time had come for emergency action to lift this sector before it was too late.