The Republic Street Business Association is very happy with business outcomes over the Christmas period and said there was an increase in the number of people who made it to Valletta this year over the past two years.

Speaking to The Malta Independent, association president Paul Fenech, said people continued to shop this week and sales were normal or slightly better than last year’s, although not all sectors reported the same outcome.

He pointed out that the initiatives to attract more people to Valletta are paying off while the good weather helped and so did the fact that more restaurants and bars are opening till late, making the city livelier.

The City Gate project is also nearing completion and hence inconvenience has been reduced.

Asked on the post Christmas and January sales, Mr Fenech said these should be competitive, offering good discounts to shoppers. Remarking on online shopping and whether this affects local business, Mr Fenech argued there is a great difference between buying things on the basis of what you see on a computer screen and the experience of visiting a shop.

“You can never be sure of the quality of items purchased online and the satisfaction one gets cannot be compared with the feeling you get when visiting shops.

“Shops give a service and other benefits such as being able to exchange items, which are much more difficult to achieve or non-existent in online shopping,” he noted.

Merchants Street Business Community president Tonio Camilleri agreed that sales were positive and the initiative to lift CVA fees from 2pm helped but unfortunately, several spaces were used by shop workers. Until enough parking is created, accessibility issues will not be solved. He pins the fact that more people visited Valletta during the holidays down to the CVA scheme but said that people do not know enough about it and believe charges are high when this is not the case. Blue and green parking bays also confuse people and he knows of shoppers who tried to park in Valletta and left.

Discussing turnover, he said this was higher over last year but people seem to have opted for lower value items.

Valletta mayor Alexiei Dingli said social media surveys and online comments show that people chose Valletta more although surveys from shops regarding sales are yet to be received.

“Valletta was the people’s choice,” he said, explaining that the advertising campaign on television and social media paid off. Valletta, he believes, was in the past affected by a negative perception and so efforts are being made to reverse this with one of the initiatives being ‘reverse pick pocketing’ – having promoters slip vouchers in people’s pockets or wallets rather than taking something from them.

The local council, together with the two business communities, V.18 foundation and the Parliamentary Secretariat for Culture and the Arts worked together and people said in comments online they are “rediscovering Valletta”.

Matthew Carbonaro, the local council’s town centre manager pointed out that in previous years, two separate campaigns were held by the business communities for people to shop in Merchants Street and in Republic Street respectively. Two lotteries also used to be organised. 

Since last year however, activities started to be coordinated and ‘Christmas in Valletta’ was the chosen theme for this year. This gave the chance for the two business communities to work together while shops situated in side streets also participated. One lottery was meanwhile organised.

Since forces were joined, a stronger and more effective marketing campaign took place.

Mr Carbonaro also pointed out that with the help of the Parliamentary Secretariat for Culture and the Arts, which is also responsible for local councils, daily events were held in Valletta, offering Christmas entertainment that served as an attraction.

Sliema Business Community president Grace Borg was less positive and while pointing out that the association is to discuss turnover next week, said that business in Sliema cannot do well until the parking issue is solved. Explaining that establishments that have their own car parks are excluded from the issue, she said that the Ferries area, which hosts the traditional Sliema shopping area, is greatly affected.

The promise that the bus lane would be temporarily removed to widen the road making it a two-lane one, was not delivered, she said, noting there seems to be lack of communication or misunderstanding between the Sliema local council and Transport Malta.

She hopes that Transport Malta and the ministry immediately discuss the situation, after settling the Arriva issue, as the issue cannot go on unresolved.