It has been a very bad month for the tourism sector, say people who have invested heavily in the sector, and the coming months do not seem to be better.

They have claimed that Thomson Holidays and Tui are winding down their operations and First Choice is about to stop carrying tourists to Malta. MyTravel has not had the success it expected and other tour operators are, at best, talking of keeping status quo.

There is also talk of coming changes at the head of MTA, the sources said.

This is all the more reason to reconsider allowing low cost airlines into Malta to offset the tourists losses made by the established tour operators.