Establishment owners in the leisure industry have given mixed reactions over trading in the New Year period, but the success or otherwise of business, and the economy in general, must take into consideration the prevailing trends of the past year, GRTU entertainment, hospitality and leisure division president Philip Fenech said yesterday.

Speaking to The Malta Independent, Mr Fenech said that the New Year period, particularly New Year’s Eve, is always one of the busiest, if not the busiest, times of the year.

In addition, there were more tourists in Malta for the New Year than there were for Christmas, said Mr Fenech.

Everyone had their share of business over the period, so one then has to look at the situation with which businesses were faced throughout the year, he said.

A number of businesses had reported that the results were not too different to those of previous years, while some business owners reported they had done slightly better. There were others, however, who reported that they had seen a 50 per cent fall in business compared with the previous festive season.

Mr Fenech pointed out that it is also a fact that the “good old days”, when the build-up to the Christmas period was a very good time for the leisure industry, are long gone. The pattern has changed over the years, particularly as a result of a change in lifestyle and the variety of entertainment from which people can choose.

He said he had received quite a few complaints from businesses with licensed premises regarding parties held at unlicensed premises that had been given a one-off permit for a specific event.

“Business owners always look on suspiciously when such parties are held, since they will have been making an effort to keep their businesses running throughout the year, while these parties take a lot of business when they obtain one-off permits.”

Mr Fenech looked back at the past year which, he said, had been undoubtedly one of the most difficult years for the tourism industry.

Naturally, tourism affects other parts of the economy, so it indirectly impacts on the amount of disposable income the Maltese have to spend on leisure and entertainment. The increase in prices, including imported inflation on water and electricity costs, have proved to be one of the strongest challenges for the commercial sector.

Other factors, such as the fact that the leisure industry has geared itself up for higher volumes and increased competition, have resulted in a more distributed occupancy rate in hotels, restaurants, bars and other entertainment outlets.

The times are what they are as regards tourism and the economy in general, explained Mr Fenech. He added that certain segments of the tourism industry had done very well; it was mainstream tourism that had fared badly, but this did not mean that everything was stagnant just because business was slow in certain sectors.

Nowadays, the structure of a business greatly depends on the way it fares at different times of the year. Some businesses may depend solely on tourists, others solely on locals or on a mixture of both.

“If we had to take a general view of the way things stand at present, people tend to prefer something less exclusive at more reasonable prices, as opposed to places that charge higher prices but offer high-quality products and service,” said Mr Fenech.

He said that if he had to single out a challenge for 2007, it would be to try to help businesses with a good product maintain their position in the market – the businesses that suffer as a result of a lack of occupancy, for example.

“Some businesses in the leisure industry are recovering beautifully, but we have lost some valuable players, maybe because it was time for them to revamp their product,” Mr Fenech concluded.