Gulia hits out at de Marco for inflating tourism figures

Labour MP Gavin Gulia hit out at Tourism Minister Mario de Marco for "playing around with numbers".

Addressing a press conference at the PL's headquarters, Gulia said that government had used the influx of migrants last year from the Libyan uprising to inflate its figures on tourists' arrivals in Malta.

"Last year, when Malta reached the 1.4 million figure on tourists arrivals, de Marco refuted the claim that the numbers were inflated due to the influx from Libya. However yesterday, when he was reacting to NSO statistics showing a decrease during the first quarter of this year, he said that one had to keep in mind the arrivals from Libya in 2011," Gulia said.

He said that the added value for 2011 increased by only 1.9%, when compared to the same period in 2008, while the expenditure on wages was 0.5% less than that spent in 2008.

"Moreover, the profits made in the sector during 2011 were less than those registered in 2008," Gulia said, adding that profits generated last year were lesser than those during 2004.

Referring to profits made, Gulia said that while for every €100 spent by tourists in 2004, workers received €24 eight years ago, this went down to €20 last year.

He added that while in 2004 businessmen made €10 in profits off every €100 spent by tourists, this went down to €8.60 in 2011.

Speaking on Air Malta, Gulia said he hoped that what the European Commission agrees about the airline's restructuring process would be truly in the airline's best interest.

"All agreements should guarantee the accessibility to Malta and this can only be done by retaining all routes and Air Malta keeping its 50% seat capacity." he said.