The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association have made an announcement to say that they would like to express their concern on the confusing statements being made by Government concerning the tourism industry.

The association said that one day Dr Gonzi is quoted – during the launch of Government subsidies, to encourage hotel refurbishment, that the tourism industry is the main pillar of the Maltese economy, while shortly afterwards Dr Jason Azzopardi stresses that Malta is “not only a tourism destination” and goes on to downplay this crucial industry’s local role while also stating that tourism directly contributes no more than 12% of Malta’s GDP.

MHRA said it certainly does not deny that Malta’s economy is diverse and that the contribution towards our GDP by various other sectors should not be under-estimated. However if the Prime Minister has just stated that our country’s economy is mainly supported by tourism, it seems incongruent and inconsistent for another high official of the same administration to follow this up with an opposing statement.

The ripple effect created by the tourism sector is far greater than that produced by other sectors in our economy. Tourism indirectly supports in a substantial manner a number of service sectors such as restaurants, transport, retail, financial services and to a lesser extent also the real estate sector. Tourists visiting the Maltese islands have a marked incidence through their spend on all of these sectors.

The true overall impact of the tourism sector should not be minimised, but rather as the main pillar of the Maltese economy it should be supported, upheld and given the importance it rightly deserves.

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