The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association yesterday came out against the government for the lack of foresight it had shown in the Merchants Street, Valletta situation – with the second most important street in the country lying dug up at the height of the tourism season.

The MHRA said it had always reiterated that the success of tourism depended on a good level of marketing, sufficient seat capacity and product improvement.

The Tourism Ministry and the Malta Tourism Authority, following intense lobbying by the MHRA, made a big effort to ensure that sufficient marketing was being done in Malta’s core markets and to bring about an increase in the seat capacity so as to increase number of visitors to the island. The significant increase in arrivals being experienced this summer showed that the desired results were being achieved, it said.

“It is however extremely disappointing to note that these efforts are being undermined by a lack of proper planning in our product development. The current situation in Valletta is a case in point,” it said, echoing criticism already made by the Labour Party.

The MHRA said it had for the past months been expressing its concern with the government that the works in Merchants Street should have not been undertaken in the peak summer months and that these works were taking too long.

The MHRA has now learned that the paving slabs for the area are not even on order due to the bureaucratic tendering process. Besides the hardship and loss of revenue this was causing to the business community in the area, it was causing irreparable damage to the tourism sector and the economy of the island.

“MHRA has already in the past voiced its concern that the authorities need to be more sensitive to the tourism sector and this is another such example. Fast track solutions to the bureaucratic problems need to be found in the shortest possible time.

“It is also very regrettable that to date, after months of public consultation and meetings the promised construction management regulations have still not been issued. These were supposed to come into force this summer. The unregulated construction throughout the island and in some cases abusive attitude and delays by contractors, is causing immeasurable harm to the tourism industry,” the MHRA said.

It called on the government to publish the proposed construction management legislation forthwith in order to check the serious abuses that go on in the construction industry to the determent of both locals and visitors.

The government also needed to ensure that the competent authorities had the proper level of manpower to enforce regulations and offenders being brought to book.

The government must also ensure that projects which are driven by public entities should be planned to take place during the winter months and that deadlines are met and works do not drag on without any completion date in sight.