The Malta Tourism Authority today was granted the right to enforce the closure of the Park Hotel in Sliema by a court of appeal.

Last month the MTA had issued an enforcement notice to stop the hotel from operating and warned the hotel owner that police action would be taken. The owner filed an injunction to stop the authority from proceeding with the closure.

The hotel, through its licensee Esther Camilleri, argued that after the first inspection carried out by the MTA in June 2016, works costing €0.5 million were carried out to upgrade the hotel. The MTA had allowed her to operate and subsequent inspections only yielded minor deficiencies, she said.

The MTA, however, said that it had given the hotel a chance to meet the four-star hotel standards, but when another inspection was carried out the following year, the hotel was found to be in a very bad state and another enforcement notice was issued. The Authority said that regular inspections were carried out over the past two years but no significant improvements were noticed.

Among other things, the hotel has a rat problem, and the MTA had received a number of complaints from tourists, even on TripAdvisor. The authority argued that the hotel was ruining Malta’s reputation abroad.

The Court, presided by Judge Robert G. Mangion, said that the law required that orders such as those issued by the MTA are not hampered by court proceedings.

The Court added that if it acceded to the injunction, it would prejudice any future action taken by the MTA which, in turn, would negatively impact Malta’s tourism industry on which thousands depended.

The Court had stern words for the hotel’s state of repair, which, the Court said, was so bad that it was not worthy of its four star rating or of any rating.

The injunction was dismissed, which means that the MTA is free to actuate the enforcement notice and close the hotel immediately.