The volcanic ash cloud really did put a spoke in the wheels. It did not affect Malta directly, in the sense that it did not reach our airspace, but it did impact on tourism arrivals, the postal service and flights to and from European destinations.

Just a few days before the cloud appeared, Malta was buoyant as a result of much improved tourism arrivals. To put it into context, more people came to Malta in March this year than they did in 2008, which was our record year.

In addition, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association also lightened the mood by saying that there was real cause for optimism – although it did express some worries a well.

We have been told that we literally lost some 40,000 arrivals due to the aviation lockdown and Air Malta lost some €3 million over the no-flying week. It is a body blow, especially as we were beginning to see real recovery in the tourism sector. But this is not the time to deflate and give up. It is an optimistic assumption, but if March arrivals were on the increase – we can surely expect the upturn to continue throughout the Spring and Summer.

It is going to have to be a case of sucking it up, absorbing the losses and working hard to ensure that we attract even more visitors in the coming months. Air Malta has tried to mitigate the damage by allowing people to rebook their flights and many hotels have done their best to be flexible in not charging for cancellations in the hope of arranging an alternative booking which is acceptable to both visitor and establishment.

The truth is that the whole situation is a big mess. It is useless to point fingers and cry over spilt milk. The authorities decided to stick to current practice and shutdown airspace – whether it was right to do in terms of passenger safety remains to be seen and it seems certain that there will be a review of the procedure in good time. The only thing we (Malta) can do now, is to be as flexible as we can be. Some of the people who were due to arrive but cancelled would have been return visitors, and we can rely on them to rebook and come when it is convenient for them to do so. But a good many others would have been first-time visitors. Malta has a good visitor return-ratio and we must bear in mind that a first-time visitor is a good long-term investment if we treat them well (and if they like Malta as a destination).

The Malta Tourism Authority, the MHRA and of course Air Malta, must all work together to try and facilitate as many re-arranged bookings as possible. There is no magic wand solution and it is going to involve a lot of personal contact in trying to mitigate the losses which we incurred.

If needs be, the government should also look into ways in which it can help local hotels and restaurants (and of course Air Malta) to absorb the losses which they did not plan for, in order to make it through the next month or so. We do not want to paint a picture of doom, but perhaps extensions for owed bills can be granted along with other tailor-made measures. The MTA might also do well to up its advertising campaign on mainstream television channels.