The hospitality industry is one of those which has struggled the most during the Covid-19 pandemic.

As tourism dried up, of course, so did business for those in the hotel and catering industry, and so did the jobs.  Indeed, in 2020 the industry’s revenue was at €278 million, a drop of 48%, and the industry’s value added in 2020 was recorded at €75 million, a drop of 69%.

As normality continues to return, so has business – but the hospitality industry continues to struggle, particularly with staff shortages.

A seminar hosted on human resources in the catering industry on Thursday discussed this matter in particular detail and which presented some quite contrasting views on the matter.

On the first part, Association of Catering Establishments president Reuben Buttigieg said that throughout the years the Maltese population had developed a detrimental mind-set influencing youngsters that hospitality is not a worthy career option.

“Malta has created this situation, it is our fault to some extent,” said Buttigieg.

“We have created the mind-set that hospitality is not a good career or that there is something wrong in this sector,” he added.

This is, in our view, a somewhat disingenuous statement. Mind sets are ultimately developed for a reason, and the reason is how much of the hospitality has acted in terms of its employment practices in recent years.

Of course, there is something wrong with the sector: but it’s not something which Malta as a whole has created – it’s something which the industry has created… much like lifting a rock only to then drop it on your own feet.

We say this because it is not the Maltese population which chooses to offer little over minimum wage to people who want to work in the catering industry, before then in many cases asking them to work beyond normal hours – for that same paltry wage.

This is in fact a point which both Finance Minister Clyde Caruana and a hospitality consultant named Derrick Habit latched onto in their own addresses.

Caruana on his part said that despite the government’s continual effort to attract more people to the hospitality industry, as well as sustaining many people’s jobs during the pandemic through the wage supplement, if wages do not increase the industry will “keep going round in circles”.

Habit meanwhile expressed his disapproval with catering establishments scouting for staff that accepts low wages. He noted that this has a detrimental effect not only on business, as customers want to receive good quality service, but that it negatively impact the industry as a whole – resulting in a situation wherein skilled people do not find jobs paying adequate wages.

He further noted that it appeared that many workers in the sector had not actually been registered, meaning that they weren’t then eligible for the Covid-19 wage supplement.

It is no doubt that the hospitality industry is an important one, like many others, for the country. 

But it is clear that its major problems lie within, and it is also quite clear that the industry will not emerge from this rut unless it starts to offer something akin to a living wage – not a few cents over minimum wage – rather than actively seeking out those who would be happy with any low wage.

Then the industry can actually start to emerge in a sustainable manner.