Tourism surveys show that 80 per cent of tourists rated services in Malta as “good” or “very good” during off-peak season whereas the figure dropped to 73 per cent during peak months.

This suggested that the influx of less trained seasonal workers diluted the quality of the service offered, Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Mario De Marco said.

Speaking during a conference on the responsible management of seasonal migration in a period of economic crisis in the tourism industry, Dr De Marco said this highlighted the importance of the proper handling of third country nationals who came to work in the tourism industry in Malta in the peak summer months.

The conference, at the Dolmen Hotel in Qawra was organised by the General Workers Union and other members of the Confederation of Trade Unions.

Currently there are about eight million migrant workers in the EU, making up four per cent of the work force. Such workers are more vulnerable as they are not a national of the state where they are working. This often meant that their contractual links were not as strong, were the first to be let go and were often abused.

“The exploitation of any workers is not to be tolerated,” Dr de Marco said adding that it was also the duty of governments to protect citizens from unregulated third country workers. An EU draft directive is seeking to regulate such workers.

GWU general secretary Tony Zarb stressed on the importance of better law enforcement to ensure that foreigners, who come to work in Malta during the busy touristic month, are not abused.