Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) has welcomed the announcement by a major pharmaceutical company that a vaccine has proved to be highly effective in combating Covid19.

“This is the first good news from the medical front that the hospitality industry has had since January 20. Clearly this news instills hope that a way out of this pandemic is now on the horizon,” the MHRA said.

“The MHRA has always maintained that there needs to be a medical solution for the start of a recovery in the hospitality industry and this news can therefore be taken to mean that we can now start forecasting a start to the recovery of the industry,” the Association added.

“The many long months since the Pandemic started have brought the whole of the hospitality industry worldwide to its knees as well as affected a lot of other service industries,” stated Tony Zahra President of MHRA.

He stressed that “Malta is no exception, and it is only thanks to the Government support for the industry, through wage subsidies and other help, that the island has managed to ward off serious unemployment and possible closures.”

Zahra went on to say that, “we can now look to the future with much courage. We shall continue to interact with government at the highest level to draft out a solid marketing plan so that the island can be in a position to compete aggressively as the tourism industry ramps up to a return to some form of normality.”

“MHRA believes that there will be a gradual return to pre Covid normality perhaps taking 2/3 years to get back to close to 2019 levels of activity. Consequently, it is expected that sun destinations will all be competing aggressively to capture as large a share of a smaller market as possible. Malta has to be ready to compete aggressively in this Environment,” he said.

Tony Zahra concluded by saying, “we are confident that as has happened till now we shall continue to work closely with Prime Minister, Minister of Tourism, MTA, and other government entities so that together we can ensure that we get the maximum results from all the stakeholders efforts.”

Photo by Alain Salvary

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