Prime Minister Robert Abela said that he is “optimistic” about the country’s upcoming reopening for tourism next week.
Tourism is set to reopen as from 1 June – this coming Tuesday – and Abela said on Sunday in a discussion programme on Labour Party media that he is optimistic of the country having a positive summer when it comes to Tourism.
He noted however that the country must remain cautious – which is why new measures were introduced relating to travel, amongst those being the moving of all green list countries to the amber list – where a Covid swab test is required either before or upon entry.
Abela noted that the vaccine certificate – details of which are expected to be shared on Monday – is a key to not just restarting tourism, but also to restarting a certain level of domestic activity.
“When it comes to higher risk activities, we had two options: either not allowing them and watching the respective sectors close down, or devise safe ways to attend such activities. The vaccine certificate is one such way”, Abela said.
He again appealed for people to get vaccinated, once again lauding the country’s vaccination drive which has seen over 70% of the country’s population receive at least one dose of the jab – placing Malta in pole position in Europe.
He said that Malta had arrived at this stage because of the government’s continuous efforts and because of its insistence on the European Commission leading a joint procurement initiative for the vaccines.
Abela used the discussion to speak about a number of economic subjects as well.
He said that the government had chosen to invest in the Maltese people rather than to institute austerity measures, and that their decisions in this sense have been vindicated, with unemployment at pre-pandemic levels and with people continuing to spend money on things such as property, where record levels of spending is being recorded month after month.
Abela latched onto this theme when asked for his views on the past four years of the Labour legislature – with the anniversary of four years since the 2017 snap election approaching in the coming days.
He said that the past four years was “four years of investment in our people.”
“We saw how when you invest in people, they reciprocate with their faith in you”, he added.
He said that the government had reformed so much in that period, taking reforms in the rule of law sector – an area where the Labour government is oft criticised – as an example of this.
He referred to the news that the Moneyval evaluation had cleared Malta over its previous anti money laundering shortcomings, and noted that while there was still work to be done, the evaluation was proof that the government was working to fix things which had been building up for many years, even before Labour came to power in 2013.
Abela also spoke of the party’s energy sector measures, saying that the government had helped people save some €500 million on utility bills, and that the Nationalist Party has no credibility to speak about this sector.
“People won’t forget what [former Prime Minister Lawrence] Gonzi said, and what Tonio Fenech said – and they won’t forget the huge changes we implemented after them”, Abela said.
His statement comes at a time of controversy over the energy sector, with a draft NAO finding that people may have been overcharged on their utility bills – something which the PN has latched onto to say that the public had been swindled out of a total of around €50 million in the last seven years on their bills.
Notary Nicolette Vella, Birzebbuga Deputy Mayor Scott Camilleri, Intercontinental General Manager Neal Debono and health frontliner Jorgen Souness also partook in the discussion programme.