If tourists do not start trickling in by this July or August, hotels would have to depend on state assistance until next summer, according to Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) President, Tony Zahra.

On Thursday morning, a media report cited several sources who believe authorities are expected to re-open the airport by mid-July. This has, as of yet, not been confirmed or denied by the authorities.

“Unless airport operations resume, there is no reason to reopen hotels,” he argued. While a decision was made on when to reopen restaurants, it had still to be determined when hotels could resume operations, Mr Zahra said.

Once that is decided, then the sector can move on to see how best they can work within the prevailing circumstances, he added, making a categorical proviso.

“If Malta International Airport is not opened again – so we can start seeing some clients in July and August – then it would not be worth reopening during the winter months. So, we would have to wait until March next year,” he said.

And that, Mr Zahra was quick to point out, would mean that the assistance package offered by the Government to hotels to retain their workforce would have to be extended to June 2021.

Hotel accommodation in the first quarter of this year stood at 281,253, down from 349,380 in the same period in 2019 according to figures by the National Statistics Office. In parallel, Flughafen Wien Group reported that MIA, in which it has a strategic investment, handled just over one million passengers in the first four months of this year, a drop of more than 45 per cent over the same period in 2019.

Flights movements were down 38.1 per cent and cargo also declined by 2.5 per cent. There are 126 hotels offering just over 39,000 beds, according to data just published by the NSO. Most, 48, are in the three-star cate gory, followed by those having four stars (44), two stars (19) and five stars (15).

Mr Zahra explained that, when discussing the way forward to ease the pandemic’s restrictions, there are two main decisions to make: timing and conditions. Indeed, when the restrictions imposed to contain the outbreak could start being eased has to be determined first with the view of lifting them altogether.

Once that is established, then how to go about it could be discussed and decided. By way of example, he pointed to the lifting of restrictions when it came to restaurants, saying that the MHRA had done its duty and persuaded the Government to decide on a date when the reopening process could start. It then proceeded to hear what members had to say with regard to the conditions.

“One can be as critical as one can be, but the reality is that, up until just a few days before the protocols on the reopening of Malta’s tourism infrastructure were published, restaurants were still struggling,” Mr Zahra pointed out.

Now that the decision to start the reopening process has been made, the conditions can continue to be discussed and, where necessary and feasible, changed, he underlined.

“Why be so polemical on everything? Now that restaurants can reopen, we can change the conditions, if necessary,” Mr Zahra asserted.

He said he was certain that both the Tourism Ministry and the Malta Tourism Authority would be willing to make changes that were felt to be reasonable and, indeed, improve the situation.

The greatest challenge now, he noted, is getting people to restaurants. That is something that owners and the operators themselves have to do, so every individual responsible for such outlets must focus on marketing, he said.

“We are in the post-COVID-19 stage and what happened previously might not work anymore. One cannot expect that the preMarch situation will prevail now just because restaurants have been given the green light to reopen,” Mr Zahra warned.

In his opinion, restaurant operators should actively consider offering incentives to attract clients. Also, they need to focus on their ‘regulars’, the MHRA President suggested.

This is an extract of an article which appeared in the May edition of The Malta Business Observer