During their reaction to the budget allocated to the Tourism Ministry, the PN questioned the introduction of a 50c tax per bednight, mentioning that Maltese would need to pay for weekend stays.

PN MP Antoine Borg noted that the budget is limited when it comes to the development of new tourism niches, stressing that this is something that needs to be addressed.

Parliament was discussing the budget allocated to the Tourism Ministry.

He also mentioned the need for more coordinated events.

Mr Borg said that in the wrong document that was uploaded, there was mention of an events calendar, however that this was removed from within the final budget.

"This was a good idea and I do not understand why this was removed. There should be a calendar for coordination reasons".

PN MP Antoine Borg said that the tourism has been doing well for a number of years, and that one must be pleased with the results seen over recent administrations.

He spoke of the introduction of low cost carriers and the investment made in the tourism product. He also spoke of investment in human resources and improvements made to the services provided.

We must ensure that today, we use the positive results seen over the past years to create a new bandwagon, further strengthening the tourism industry so "that in 10 years, we can again be speaking of our success in this industry".

He said that results of initiatives made don't show immediately, but reveal their success in years following the initiative's introduction.

He mentioned that this is his first intervention on tourism. He mentioned the importance of not making any decisions which can damage this industry.

Mr Borg said he would address how government can improve the industry. "We not only need a good product, but we must ensure we offer the tourism lifestyle, which includes reduction in traffic and security."

"We must strengthen our marketing of the island, and strengthen our connectivity, adding that Malta, in its location, can also see a strengthening of sea connectivity".

"We need to see how to open new tourism niches".

Mr Borg said that, bit by bit, "we managed to level out in those seasons not normally known for attracting tourists".

He said that there were a number of destination offices which were empty, and he believed that the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) should ensure this should not happen again.

He did not understand how the MTA funds will be divided into marketing and route development, stating that route development funds should be used to strengthen the country's competitivity. He appealed to government to seriously work on schemes for the tourism sector in order to help develop the product.

"We know that tourism numbers are doing well, but we must ensure that we repeat the success over the past years in the coming years".

Turning to the 50c tax per night, he said that the issue is not about competitivity, but government said this would add up to €6 million. "The tourism sector already gives a lot to the industry through taxes, employees, high fuel prices and high energy prices. If in 2015, with a strong economy, government goes for this tax, imagine what they would do if we were going through a struggling economy".

"We spoke of Mrs Michelle Buttigieg (MTA's representative in the USA), working in America, and there has been no noted increase coming from there". He said that the PN have asked for details on her financial packet, however it was never published.

PN MP Robert Arrigo spoke about Air Malta

He asked whether the reduction in aircrafts by Air Malta would result in the loss of flights to Manchester and Dusseldorf, and questioned whether the routes would be dropped. As for Catania, “Can we now how important it is for Air Malta”. He also asked whether there were estimates for the Selmun Palace Hotel, which will be sold to government, and asked if there were any other interested parties.

“If Air Malta will see a €4 million loss, then this is the moment when you do not need a strategic partner, as the company can continue on its own to success”.

He also addressed the 50c environment tax. This was a proposal made by the previous administration, and the MHRA back then jumped on us, and thus it didn’t happen. Now things have changed. I recommend you give them the €300,000 for the Mediterranean forum, but 30% of arrivals do not go to hotels. 10% of arrivals are under 18 years old, thus won’t have to pay the 50c, and 20% go to unlicensed accommodation. Why then do you only tax the 40% who go to hotels. I calculate that we might see €4 million from this. Could it be that government can’t find this €4 million elsewhere, do we need to tax this industry that gives us so much? Do we need to tax host-families, these middle class people? Why must they pay this tax? Most of them host students as the mother cannot work? Why tax Maltese who go for a weekend break?”

“For many hotels, when they charge €14 half board during winter, 50c is 4% net of their charge”.

He spoke of the public-private-partnership board to see where these funds will go, and suggested that someone from the opposition and someone representing local councils should be on the board.

“If we will gather funds from Mellieha, they should be used for projects in Mellieha. If a hotel attracts so much tourists, the funds should be used in that area, and we should not use the funds from this tax in Mellieha to pay for upgrades in St Julian’s, as an example”.

“On January 1, hotels begin from zero, and the next year can always be a disaster. If Greece and Spain rise on their feet, then this is a possibility”.

He mentioned that ITS is not churning out any new guides for new markets. Next year, there will not be enough guides to service the industry.

PN MP Censu Galea mentioned the need for an emphasis on repeat tourism visits. He said that there are a number of these on the island already, and he discovered one of the reasons for such repeat visits. “They choose Malta as we treat them well. Those who work in this sector have an obligation, that the Maltese deliver a good service, must be strengthened over the coming years”.

He asked why there is a €100,000 reduction allocated for ITS.

PN MP Galea mentioned that the public-private partnership board for the allocation of projects based of the 50c per bed-night collected, he hopes that local councils will play a strong role.

He mentioned the need for funds to be allocated in the coming years for the construction of parking areas. “The MTA will see a €12 million rise, and one must see how these funds will be used. Maybe the Minister can tell us how this will be used and for which specific projects will they be used. At the end of the day, the funds used by the Authority are funds given by the public”.

There is the possibility for the improvement of bays around the island, but lets work more closely with local councils to improve our product. Local Council funds are very limited, and it might be worth for the Tourism Minister to pressure the Local Government Minister to better fund the local councils.

He also mentioned that operators in the tourism sector, such as restaurants, tend to leave a mess behind. “You cannot have a restaurant throw all their rubbish on the side of the road when closing, expecting someone to pick it up in the morning”.

PN MP Kristy Debono spoke of forecasts, stating that it will expand. “The time has come for the NSO to conduct further research and in-depth studies”.

She said that inbound statistics and cash spent by tourists result in a positive track, but she urged government to keep working on improving the product.

She called for the need for a carrying capacity study, regarding “how many tourists Malta can actually hold, and identify the bottlenecks that exist and areas where a growth spurt are possible”.

“Do we have enough beds in different forms of accommodation? Is the road infrastructure satisfying to keep the tourism sector competitive? The closer we move towards the €2 million tourist mark, we must ask, do we have enough workers in this sector?”

She asked how the rise in the number of tourists would be met with regards in bed nights, given that the hotels around Pembroke involved in a massive project, would effectively stop operations. These are concerns for a number of stakeholders in the industry.

She also mentioned the 50c tax per bed night, adding that a number of questions need to be asked. Why did government feel the need to introduce this tax during this tourism boom? How will the tax be administered? 

She spoke of the need to look at the interests of residents who live in tourism areas. She mentioned Swieqi residents, who suffer due to the noise-levels coming from tourists returning home from Paceville, “This is not to mention the theft and break-ins in the area, and vandalism”. She mentioned the need to strengthen the security of such areas, through, for example, the introduction of CCTV cameras. She asked if government plans to allocate more police to the St Julian's and Swieqi areas, and whether government will introduce tourism police as "it has said a year ago".

She spoke of the new ITS building, adding that the PN welcomes this investment and believes this to be the first budget to create investment for ITS since former Minister Michael Refalo. She asked whether the adequate polishing for this institute will take place, and asked how the funds will be administered.

PN MP Claudio Grech mentioned consistent development and improvement over the past few years.

He said that a human resources problem exists within the industry. “Over the years, the median wage of those working in this sector, where compared with other sectors, the wages began to reduce. Over the past 10 years, the wage rate dropped by 25% when compared to the national average, and thus there are sectors that are more attractive than the Tourism sector. Obviously its easy to speak about the problem but not easy to find a solution”.

He spoke of foreign workers in the industry, stating that if it wasn’t for them then the industry would be facing difficulties, adding that government must look at ways to strengthen incentives for wages in this area.

“If we can ensure that someone in the entry-level of the management tourism chain, can improve his skills, then that would result in an improvement in value and thus an improvement in wages”.

Turning to infrastructure, he described it as being just as important as human resources. The more tourists we receive, the more weight there will be on our infrastructure. He said that today, he does not believe Malta has the infrastructure to deal with the huge influx of tourists Malta is currently seeing.

Turning to quality vs quantity, he said - “I believe we cannot ignore the importance of numbers, as in truth the tourism results are based on all tourists, and not just high-end tourists”. “Our infrastructure needs to deal with our tourists. I don’t think any government would want to limit the amount of tourists brought in”.

He said that infrastructure is not seen in a holistic manner, through an integrated plan, but rather is currently seen in pockets, such as Sliema and St Julian’s etc.

MP Grech also mentioned long-term tourists, mentioning that these people also add weight to the infrastructure, and here he was not just speaking about roads, but also water and drainage systems. “We need an infrastructure aimed to handle 650,000 not 400,000”.

“I believe that tourism must be the dominant factor when handling infrastructure plans”.

He mentioned the need to create incentives to incentivise the private sector to improve the infrastructure in their surrounding area. “Maybe we can look at proportional aid in investment, or tax credits”.

Turning to Air Malta, he called it a strategic player. “The published results, if looking at the half-yearly results, then its positive. But the operating loss last year was higher than the year before”.

“I understand there were some profitable routes that had to be closed, but I believe that if we want to focus on saving this agenda, we must pull the same rope”.