Gozo hotel completes €6 million refurbishment

The Kempinski Hotel in San Lawrenz, Gozo, has completed a refurbishment project worth €6 million.

The newly refurbished hotel was inaugurated by tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis, who said that the project reflected the major optimism in the tourism industry stakeholders’ future.

He noted that over a million tourists visited Gozo last year, of whom 123,000 were tourists who spent more than one night in Gozo. He pointed out that this was a 30% increase over that registered in 2012, the last full year of the previous Government.

Zammit Lewis called for the creation of new niche markets in Gozo to combat seasonality, and defended the 50c nightly eco-tax that hotel guests will have to pay as from June.

“We need to ensure that Gozo’s unique offer continue to feature prominently in our tourism marketing strategy,”he said.

“The Government is aware of the need to address these issues and, to this end, I have decided to introduce the Environmental Contribution where all revenue generated will solely and exclusively be directed toward the improvement and embellishment of the local infrastructure while offering an improved product in general of the Maltese Islands, including of course that of Gozo.”