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TOURISM MINISTER MICHAEL REFALO CONCLUDES MTA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
22/11/2001
In his concluding address to the Malta Tourism Authority Annual Conference Minister for Tourism Michael Refalo congratulated MTA for a "creditable performance despite difficult circumstances."
The Minister said that during 2001 MTA had embraced its expanded role and "brought minds together to fashion a response and find appropriate solutions to overcome the challenges, meet targets and capitalize on opportunities".
When reviewing 2001 performance Minister Refalo said that the 900,000 additional guestnights amply compensated for the 8,000 or so loss in volume terms. Following the 11th September attack on civilization, to correctly assess tourism performance for 2001 one had to assess the performance in two segments, from January to August and from September to December.
Minister Refalo said that 2001 had also been a year of "hard decisions" adding that that "there will not be any going back on the decision to phase out TOSS".
The decision to control bedstock was another hard but necessary decision supported by the findings of he Carrying Capacity Assessment Report which will soon be published.
Minister Refalo confirmed that as from 1st January 2002, MTA will assume responsibilities for the administration of Ministry of Tourism policies previously under HCEB’s wing. Moreover the Minister said that some members of the trade needed to show a "stronger sense of discipline and compliance to regulations". Those that do not will not be allowed to operate. Minister Refalo then referred to the recently launched World Tourism Organisation nine point plan for the development of tourism adding that "Malta is not only in line with international trends and developments but is, in many instances, a step or two ahead".
The Minister then referred to a number of budget measures in favour and in support of the tourist industry.
"Apart from the various Public / Private Partnership embellishment projects, Budget 2002 provides the tourism industry with a number of specific incentives.
These include a lower rate of interest for bank loans for refurbishment, a subsidy on the price of diesel oil and kerosene, confirmation that VAT on accommodation will definitely remain unchanged for a further 18 months, tax rebates less bureaucracy and concessions for service sector SMEs, customs duty reductions, a more advantageous system for depreciation calculation purposes, tax deductions relating to pre-trading expenses such as staff training, and, last but not least, an undisclosed but agreed amount to provide tourism, through the Ministry and MTA, additional capital in support of strategies made necessary because of the 11th September attack which has had such a negative impact on our tourism industry".
Referring to the 11th September aftermath and the road to recovery, Minister Refalo reviewed measures taken by Government and MTA and spoke abut UK tour operators’ positive reaction to MTA’s pro-active plan for winter 2001/2002.
The Minister said that MTA and the trade must ensure a good summer season and that bookings are made as early as January to ensure that tour operators do not reduce air seat capacity. This applied to both the UK, Germany, and to a lesser extent, other markets.
The Minister said that he was confident that the resilience of Malta’s tourism industry would again win the day.
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