Malta Chamber calls for temporary tourism tax exemption

While agreeing with the proposed tourism tax “in principle,” the Malta Chamber of Commerce and a number of bodies involved in the tourism industry expressed their opposition to the way it is implemented.

The Malta Chamber made it clear that for future reference, whenever government intended to introduce a new tax, it would do well to consult with all the elements in the industry affected, in order to mitigate any damage this would potentially result in.

Malta Chamber president Anton Borg said the way the proposed bed-tax and the fund to improve the tourism product is being implemented “would bring about unnecessary burdens on the industry, and would certainly leave a bad taste with patrons, damaging Malta’s touristic product.”

Borg said package holiday tourists make up 44% of tourist arrivals in Malta and the tourism operators whose market is mainly package holiday tourists, will be faced with situations where their fully paid up clients will be asked to pay the new tax by the accommodation provider, who is legally responsible to collect it.

“These tourists, who would have booked on the understanding that all their costs are covered, will not take lightly to an added expense, however small, and will in most instances refuse to pay. In such situations, rather than risk upsetting their clients and the package travel operators who booked them, the local tourism providers will end up absorbing the tax themselves.”

He said that in order to avoid this, government should exempt accommodation providers from collecting the tax from tourists who would have booked comprehensive package holidays before the 1 May 2016.

All other tourists would be expected to pay the eco-contribution from the 1 June.

This exemption would be in place only for a few months and would replace the 15% concession for any uncollected contributions.

Borg also said that host family accommodations today account for around 11.7% of total tourist bed nights and an estimated 9.8% of total tourist expenditure.

Government insists it is doing its best to ensure eco-tax is paid by tourists not operators

The government has once again insisted that it is doing its utmost to ensure that the implimentation of the eco-tax benefits all the aspects of the sector.

In a statement issued inr esponse to the Chamber's press conference, the government said that it was ensuring that the tax was not absorbed by operators, but by tourists.

"The tax being introduced in one of the lowest throughout the EU, and it has already had positive effects on the economy of other countries where it has been introduced," the statement reads.