“In both the short and long term, the overriding priority must always remain public health and well-being through measures and strategies that are proportionate to the scale of the current issues at hand.

“Such measures and strategies must be constantly monitored and tweaked as we now face a very fluid reality,” states Maria Micallef, CEO at The General Soft Drinks.

From an economic perspective, Ms Micallef asserts that the short-term strategy must focus on safeguarding as many jobs as possible, which is only possible via measures that effectively provide support and access to cashflow for operations in all sectors of the economy.

“Such frameworks have been forthcoming but more rapid implementation and roll-out to the market would have resulted in much less uncertainty and instability throughout the economy.” In the short to medium term, Ms Micallef believes the revival of the local economy will be heavily dependent on internal tourism.

“With traditional tourism being such a large contributor to the economy, it will be essential to cultivate as much internal tourism as possible within the acceptable parameters of social distancing in order to drive the wheel of the tourism sector and the various other sectors that are directly and indirectly reliant on tourism,” she explains.

“In the longer term, internal tourism as well as traditional tourism of higher value, rather than volume, will be essential. Furthermore, the long-term priorities that were always discussed for Malta preCOVID-19, namely education, upskilling, innovation and digitalisation, sustainability and the environment, will be of even greater importance going forward.”

Reflecting on the return to a so-called normal pace of life, Ms Micallef asserts that the island still faces a reality of ongoing local transmission of the virus and numerous asymptomatic cases.

“Therefore, although the restrictions are being lifted, there will always remain a portion of the population who, for various reasons, will not be willing to revert to their previous lifestyle.

“This portion of the population coupled with the loss of traditional tourism for numerous months and the restrictive measures in place regarding gatherings of groups of people, will mean lower footfall for many businesses and thus further contribute to the vicious cycle of less cashflow and lower disposable income,” says the CEO.

“On the other hand, we now fully understand and appreciate the value of a modern and digital economy, and hence this experience should be used to accelerate the ongoing transition into a modern and digital economy.”

Turning towards the impact of the pandemic on her sector, Ms Micallef says overall consumption of beverages has decreased due to the closure of the Hotel/ Restaurant/Catering (HoReCa) sector.

“With the staggered easing of restrictions and hotter months ahead, we look forward to increasing levels of consumption and we will continue to monitor developments closely in order to adapt to the requirements of our customers and consumers.

“We will also strive to ensure that our brands play a large part in the road to recovery of our clients in the HoReCa industry.”

This is an extract of an article which featured in the June/July edition of the Commercial Courier