The GRTU president and national council yesterday said they fully supported director general Vincent Farrugia.

The statement came in the wake of statements and counter-statements by Mr Farrugia and the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, following an intervention made by Mr Farrugia last week during an MHRA presentation.

The Federation of Industry and the Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise yesterday also entered the fray, after an earlier statement by the MHRA, which said that it had “no intention of entering into a public slanging match with the GRTU as it believes that the interests of the country and of the tourism industry in particular are best served in other ways.”

The MHRA said its actions and achievements spoke for themselves. It pointed out however that it was forced to react by way of a press release following a direct public attack by the GRTU.

This had put the working relationship between the constituted bodies in a new perspective, the MHRA said.

GRTU national president Paul Abela said that “Vincent Farrugia is the director general of GRTU and speaks on behalf of GRTU. The national council and I personally as president support the director general on the stand he has taken on our behalf on tourism as it is the stand our members from the sector want us to take.

“This came out very clearly from the survey on the state of business conducted by GRTU among SMEs in the tourism sector. It is silly of MHRA to try to divide GRTU because GRTU is solidly behind Vincent Farrugia and it won’t be intimidated by the abusive personal attack of MHRA on GRTU’s director general,” Mr Abela said.

But the Malta Federation of Industry and the Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise yesterday expressed disapproval at the position taken by the GRTU at the expense of MHRA. The outburst at the MHRA event and the subsequent attacks on the same organisation were totally uncalled for, they said in a joint statement.

Tourism was the lifeblood of the Maltese economy and the FOI and chamber would rather that all stakeholders – the government, employer organisations and trade unions – made a unified effort to study and develop ways and means of developing the tourism sector, ensuring long-term growth and sustainability.

The two organisations also supported the MHRA for its “unrelenting efforts” in seeking renewed impetus for tourism. The MHRA pioneered consultation on the low-cost airline issue, which was one of the factors which may be attributed to the recent reversal in the downward trend in tourism figures.

It was augured that, in future, all constituted bodies would act in unison on this and all other issues pertaining to the common good of all members represented and the nation at large, the FOI and Chamber of Commerce said.