The Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU – has said that if the tourism industry is allowed to deteriorate further, with the result that many establishments will not get the results they are expecting, the country will face serious problems.

In its reply, the Tourism Ministry said that tourist expenditure in the first four months of this year was higher than during the same period last year.

In its statement, the GRTU said that many small and medium-sized enterprises depended on tourism and only a “strong summer” will enable them to survive for the rest of the year.

The Tourism Ministry and the Malta Tourism Authority did not do well in the marketing campaign, it said, but it is still not too late to remedy the situation.

Without an effort to improve the situation, many establishments will suffer the consequences, and the GRTU said it expected concrete action on the matter.

In its reply, the Tourism Ministry said that 0.4 per cent decline was a minimal drop. In the first four months of this year, total expenditure by tourists was Lm1.5 million – or 1.8 per cent more than last year. Per capita expenditure increased from Lm169 to Lm172.7.

Figures obtained from the Malta International Airport show that in May there was a 4.3 per cent increase in the number of passengers who passed through the airport.

Indications are that seat capacities for summer – between April and October – will show an increase when compared to last year, the ministry said.

It pointed out that last year the number of tourists visiting Malta rose by 3.5 per cent and income rose by three per cent – a better result than that obtained by Malta’s competitors in the Mediterranean.

The Malta Tourism Authority has, through its chairman and marketing director, individually met British tour operators in recent weeks. These meetings left positive results, the ministry said. The MTA has also held marketing and publicity campaigns in England, Germany and Austria, with a similar exercise due to take place in France.