Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi this afternoon announced that government’s fresh plans for Air Malta would be presented to the unions in two weeks' time. Though he gave very few details of what is in store, he said that certain areas would be outsourced, some routes re-introduced and a new organisational structure put in place for the national airline.

Dr Mizzi was addressing an event organised by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association during which it gave a performance overview of the first three months of the year.

In his address, the Tourism Minister promised that any solution would be “fair” for the employees while noting that government’s objective was to give a strong impetus in the early part of the legislature to be in a better position to attract a strategic partner.

Mr Zahra added that if the right approach were taken, Air Malta would not be a “poisoned chalice”

Over the past four years, all attempts by the Labour government to seek a foreign investor had failed, most notably with Alitalia.

MHRA president Tony Zahra reiterated his appeal for the government to seriously consider seeking Maltese investors: “Nobody will come to Malta because they like us, but if there are Maltese investors it would be different,” he said.

Mr Zahra added that if the right approach were taken, Air Malta would not be a “poisoned chalice”, as some had suggested.

Watch: MHRA on collision course over Air Malta

Looking at the wider picture, the MHRA president called for better standards in terms of public cleanliness and ongoing maintenance to the country’s infrastructure.

Meanwhile, a presentation delivered by Deloitte financial advisor Raphael Aloisio showed that gross operating profits in 5-star hotels in the first three months of the year more than doubled when compared to the corresponding period of last year, increasing from €815 to €1,684 per room.

The positive trend was also registered across 4-star hotels, where profits increased from €317 per room in the first quarter of 2016 to €510 between January and March of this year.

During the period under review, inbound tourism increased by 24 per cent, which resulted in a 37 per cent increase in the private accommodation industry such as holiday flats, while hotels registered a 19 per cent rise over the first quarter of 2016.

An analysis over a five-year period shows that this trend was no fluke as profits have been rising for the last five years across the board.

As for restaurants, where participation was relatively low at 53 operators, results were much more modest with a slight improvement in Gozo, Valletta and the Sliema area. One of the possible reasons for this could be that any potential increase in profits was being diluted by the increasing number of new restaurants.

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