Opposition MP urges holistic plan for tourism

PN’s financial services spokesperson Kristy Debono has urged the government to create a serious, holistic plan for the development of tourism in the next ten to fifteen years.

“The sector employs around 28,000 people, and its crucial nature for the Maltese islands remains undisputed,” Debono said, stressing that given its importance it was now high time to know where the sector was going.

Speaking in Parliament, Debono said that statistics are essential to determine the actual impact of tourism and to guide the government towards better decisions and plans for the next twenty to thirty years.

She further urged the government to carry out a study specifically into the country’s carrying capacity to identify what the limits on growth in the sector actually were, including issues like bed space, beaches and road infrastructure among others.

Debono also questioned how the government would be dealing with the bed shortage that the Corinthia project, starting in the next months, would create.

“The project, which will see the three hotels owned by the company turned into a unique, six-star hotel, will naturally lead to the hotels not being fit for operation during the period.”

Debono also took issue with the budgetary measure to include a new bed tax, questioning how the tax would be administered.

“The tax is estimated to generate some €6 million to go into a specific fund,” she said, questioning what the fund would be used for.

Debono suggested that the government invest in the sector to make it more competitive and to introduce a polluter payer principle to help residents of touristic areas in one way or another.

“I suggest that the funds are used to help police in touristic areas to operate more efficiently,” she added, referring to St Julian’s in particular. “The money should also go into solving infrastructural problems that are causing traffic problems, which in turn effect public transport and by extension tourism itself.”

Labour MP Silvio Parnis spoke about the positive results the country had achieved in the sector over the last year, with tourist numbers experiencing an impressive increase compared to last year.

“We need to increase accessibility and also to increase the number of tourist information offices around the island,” he said.

Parnis further urged rehabilitation projects for urban areas to attract more tourists, as well as projects to encourage investors to build hotels in the south of the island and distribute tourist populations throughout the island.

He added that the government recognised the need to invest in the sector and came up with a number of initiatives, including allowing hotels to build up to two additional floors

Labour MP Joseph Farrugia urges Halal Tourism

Government MP Joseph Farrugia has urged the government to look into new tourism niches such as Halal Tourism to attract more Muslim tourists.

“Tourism from Muslim countries is booming,” Farrugia said, adding that this kind of tourism would require separate swimming pools for men and women and Halal catering and certification for hotels among others.

Farrugia urged the Muslim community to appeal to Islamic financing sectors and invest in the first Halal hotel on the island.