The MHRA has said that it will not be used as “a scapegoat” for the second wave of Covid-19, saying that it is”wrong and deceitful” to do so.

It went on to say that the Council discussed internally every lobbying decision taken which has been communicated.

“Tony Zahra has the unequivocal support of the whole Council of the Association. It would also be pertinent to point out that Tony Zahra has no direct investment in any Hotel or Restaurant and thereby derives no direct benefit from the Hotel and Catering industry and any comment made to the contrary is incorrect and serves only to damage the reputation of Mr. Zahra underhandedly,” the Association said.

It went on to point out that “the Tourism industry employs over 10,000 people directly and a further 10,000 indirectly. It is responsible for generating €2.1 billion a year into the economy with a very large multiplier effect on the economy.”

The Association stated that, “when the MHRA fights for Tourism it is fighting to ensure that jobs within the industry are retained and to ensure that the economy continues to prosper to everyone’s benefit including all other businesses servicing Tourism.”

The MHRA said that it has always lobbied for the Tourism industry to be strengthened locally and will continue to do this for the benefit of the economy of the Island in the most holistic way possible.

It said that it had supported the Government in its decision to “lock down the island and close the airport to all incoming travel when there was a great deal of uncertainty about the real danger of Covid-19 to people’s lives.”

The MHRA said that once there was more clarity about the virus and it was deemed by the experts, among which were the World Health Organisation and the European Union, that it was safe to reopen the airport, then the MHRA lobbied for this to happen as fast as possible as this was the only way its members could commence operations and safeguards as many jobs as possible.

The MHRA stressed that it has at all times advocated for the proper protocols to be used across the whole industry from arrivals at the airport to procedures in their members establishments.

It also argued that, “at no point did the MHRA advocate for mass events to take place. The association categorically denies that it applied any sort of pressure at all to allow for mass events to take place.”

The MHRA further noted that the various clusters on positive cases have in their majority resulted from local events and not from tourist related cases, “thereby clearly showing that the recent spike has not been caused by the opening of the airport or by the small number of tourists visiting the Island.”

The MHRA also stated that Covid-19 spreads when social distancing protocols are not followed. “It is blatantly clear when one moves around the Island and follows various posts by individuals on social media that many people locally continue to treat social distancing in a trivial manner.”

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