As the summer moves to an end, the number of students coming over to Malta to learn English starts to drop. There are others who come during the winter and shoulder months too, but the influx during the hot season is much higher.

The Malta Independent on Sunday last weekend carried an article in which several interesting points were made.

For example, it mentioned the fact that many families this year opted not to host foreign students at their home after the government said that income from such a service should be taxed. Apparently, many considered that it was no longer worth all the trouble to do so. Many of the families think that schools do not pay them as much as they should and therefore, if the little profit they make is taxed, then they thought there was little scope of continuing to provide accommodation.

In their majority, host families give the best treatment possible to their guests and often go out of their way to be of assistance. Many of them say that however this is not recognised by the schools when it comes to payment, and so opted out when they learnt of the government’s intentions.

This led schools to approach hotels to provide accommodation to their students. Some establishments agreed to start accepting students to make up for any decline in tourist bookings, but then encountered other problems. TMIS reported that in August some hotels did not have space for other travellers. Others separated students from other tourists in their complexes to avoid complaints, but some were not in a position to do so and ended up having to face irritated guests.

Many are of the opinion that host families should be taxed for any income derived from keeping students in their homes, just like anyone else who makes money from services provided. But, to make it worthwhile, the host families believe that the rates that schools pay them must be raised. With day-to-day costs increasing – this year, just to give an example, electricity and water are costlier than they were last year – they think it is appropriate for students to pay more. Yet, if this is done, we run the risk of losing out in terms of the number of students who come to Malta, who might start preferring other, cheaper destinations.

It is a vicious circle. By accommodating students in hotels then we run the risk of losing out on other travellers, as many would not want to stay in the same complexes as high-spirited youngsters. And, if this happens, there is a chance that the number of “common” tourists starts to drop with the consequence that income from tourism drops too. We all know that tourists have a better purchasing power than students – and therefore other segments of the economy, including restaurant owners, would feel the pinch too.

As in everything else, a balance is needed.

It must be admitted that the English as a foreign language industry has become an important segment of tourism and should be supported. But, while an effort should be made to keep it going and possibly improve on past results, we cannot ignore the effect it has on other categories of the tourism industry.

We must all remember that it is not just the number of incoming tourists – and students are considered as such – that is important. How much they spend is more vital with regard to the Maltese economy. If more and more students come over and, as a consequence, fewer and fewer other tourists visit Malta, the tourism industry will struggle even more than it has done over the past years.