Hotels in the Qawra/St Paul’s Bay area are experiencing very low occupancy rates but General Managers expect things to gradually get better, though that depends on a number of factors.

Though most of the 1,200 beds in his property remain unused, Alex Pace, General Manager of the Dolmen Hotel, in Qawra, is hopeful that, all things remaining equal, the situation can improve.

He is thankful for the Maltese residents who supplement the small number of foreign guests over the weekend and is hopeful more will turn up once people get the vouchers being handed out by the Government.

In terms of foreign guests, the occupancy rate this month stands at about 30 per cent, well below the 96 per cent rate recorded this time last year, Mr Pace admits.

August promises to be better, possibly hitting even 60 per cent, he adds, noting that bookings from abroad are on the rise. September too looks promising and the General Manager predicts demand will continue to rise though not at a fast pace.

Recording an average 50 per cent occupancy rate at the end of this season is possible, which, he is quick to note, is unfortunate but acceptable in the circumstances.

The hotel is very popular among British, French and German tourists but it also welcomes a mix of guests, including Polish, Belgians, Dutch, Scandinavians and Israelis.

Mr Pace says that, rather than changing the marketing strategy, the hotel laid stress on safety and also cut prices.

If the unthinkable does not happen again and if an anti-COVID-19 vaccine is developed, he envisages that, in the 2021 summer season, the tourism industry can return to be close to 2019 levels.

The General Manager of the 1,100-bed, four star Seashells Resort at Suncrest, Joe Vella, said business is “very, very slow” though he is noticing that bookings from abroad are picking up. Occupancy hovers around the 10 per cent mark, in sharp contrast with last summer season’s 96 per cent.

He thinks the rate will keep rising, eventually stabilising at about 25 per cent. “I do hope it will get better but that depends on so many factors, including what happens in the British market, how many flights are operated to Malta and their load factors,” Mr Vella explains.

He expects August to be slightly better than July and business in September could drop slightly. Given the prevailing circumstances, he harbours doubts about the coming winter months.

The General Manager explains that, in September, October and the winter months, the area where his hotel is located is usually busy with the older generation having their holidays when their grandchildren are not around.

Mr Vella notes that people travelling this summer do not include elderly and families, as is usually the case, but, in the main, are those in the age bracket between the late 20s and early 40s.

The hotel’s main guests come from Britain, Italy and Germany.

The domestic market helps, though the General Manager describes this as a weekend operation. “Still, at the moment everything helps,” he exclaims.

Hotels are doing their utmost to attract as much business as possible, even slashing room rates, at times by as much as 40 and 50 per cent, he says. Mr Vella adds that it hurt a bit more in the five star category since they lost corporate and MICE business.

The thought that October brings back the flu season, worries him, fearing it could be another reason why people again decide not to travel.

In Mr Vella’s opinion, things will not really start getting better before April 2021, adding that the hotel is already receiving bookings was August-September 2021. He admits it is unusual that bookings are made so much in advance.

“It will not be back to normal next year but the situation should become sustainable and we could see some sort of normality,” he predicts.

Though the Hotel Santana reopens at the end of this month, its General Manager, Dean Mangion, says that, judging by the number of bookings, the situation was no different to that experienced by other properties in the Qawra/St Paul’s Bay area and, indeed, across the island.

He explains that the four-star, 600-bed hotel preferred to wait before it resumed operations, not only to make some refurbishments but also in view of the fact that when the airport reopened on 1^st July the flights catered for just a fraction of the number of incoming passengers that would usually be arriving at this time of the year.

Mr Mangion’s forecasts for August and September are “less bad” given the prevailing circumstances. For this summer, the hotel is expecting to be hosting a wider mix of guests than usual. Winter is likely to still depend heavily on the UK market, though.

His “realistic” targets are 40 per cent occupancy for August and 50 per cent for September. This is far below last year’s levels when the hotel registered an occupancy rate of 97 per cent in August, 92 per cent on September, 87 per cent in October and 88 per cent in November.

The Hotel Santana attracts domestic tourists too, though the General Manager says this market also suffered during the pandemic. However, he thinks locals will start returning once they start receiving the Government voucher, though he feels the five-star hotels are likely to benefit more, especially those in Gozo, which, Mr Mangion remarks, is an experience in itself to many. Upmarket properties in Gozo were already recording occupancy rates exceeding 90 per cent over the weekend, he notes.

“We will have to wait two years to get close to 2019 levels. Having said that, I hope I am wrong. Still, to persuade people to travel and stay in hotels they need to be both willing and able. There is no point being willing but not able and, likewise, being able but unwilling is futile. At the moment, being willing and being able are at opposite ends,” Mr Mangion argues.