The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association has said that the Budget 2015 offers Malta some interesting challenges and sets benchmarks which, if achieved, places the country amongst the best achievers in the EU.

The MHRA added that it welcomes the ambitious targets set by the Government and assures the country that the tourism industry will continue to contribute its share towards achieving these objectives.

MHRA is “particularly pleased to see the Government implementing a strategy to get the people on benefits in work especially since it has been for some years that MHRA has raised the issue that whilst Malta has circa 7,000 people registering for employment, a the same time a large portion of employees working in the tourism as front liners are non-Maltese Nationals.

MHRA said it therefore supports the Government in its commitment to wean these people from the benefits system so as they can become productive thus not only reducing the weight of the benefits being paid but also become contributors to the economy.

The Association also said that it is “particularly pleased to note that the electricity tariffs will be reduced by 25 per cent from March 2015 and the water tariffs by 5 per cent. It was the MHRA that for a number of years prior to the last election had campaigned relentlessly for the reduction of the tariffs which were an enormous burden on the tourism industry.”

MHRA said that it is continuing with their campaign to have product Malta embellished and to have more resources towards ensuring that our heritage is safeguarded and further embellished. “This needs more commitment from the Government to ensure that success is achieved in the shortest possible time.”

The Association said that it believes that there is a strong and growing market originating from the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and consequently it was hoping that the MTA budget would be increased to take into consideration the effort that needs to be done in these countries to kick start tourism to Malta.

“Given the strong showing of the industry and the very strong impact this has on the Government coffers, wherein it is estimated that for every €100 euros spent by a tourist in Malta, the Government gets €30 in taxes and this through the multiplier affect. It was hoped that the Government will be able to review upwards the allocation of resources to MTA.”

MHRA notes that a new bus operator will commence work in January and trusts that this new operator will provide an efficient and reliable service given that the cost of the subsidy will reach €23 million next year.

Mathew Pace President of MHRA said “transportation both air and land are critical for Maltese Tourism. We therefore expect that the best brains in Malta are deployed to ensure that both modes of transport are run efficiently and in a cost efficient manner. We cannot experiment anymore as time is running out.”

MHRA also reminded the Government that such things as the increasing cost of health as the population of Malta grows older, and the cost of pensions as the ratio of working population to pensioners keeps declining have to be addressed.

“The sooner one starts to address these issues the less painful the remedy will be,” concluded Mr. Pace.

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