The lifting of COVID-19 measures has meant a gradual return to business in most parts of the island, but in Valletta, a city that is heavily reliant on tourism, the pace is hardly picking up at all, shop owners tell Whoswho.mt.
Mark Aquilina, Co-founder of specialty shop Chocolate District, says “business in Valletta without tourists has been slow,” particularly with office workers having either shifted to teleworking or now working summer hours, and others closed down and employees made redundant.
“Thankfully for us, we kept going with our online shops and our regular customers. We took the opportunity to polish our business model for the future, so we kept busy, but of course they are challenging times.”
Mr Aquilina believes “Valletta has been hit the worst” in terms of retail, “as it is over-reliant on tourists”, while other shopping destinations in Malta have a good mix of residents living there and visiting tourists.
“Everyone realises this problem, and whilst events are supposedly in place to regenerate the economy in Valletta, I hope these will be done during different times of the day, not just at night. Commuting to Valletta with its parking challenges remains another perceived problem, and it is still early days for people to comfortably start using public transportation again,” he asserts.
Mr Aquilina adds that the full re-opening of the airport on 15th July should help business, “but if I’m honest, I’m not overly optimistic this year. I think that most of the people that will travel will not be for holidaying, but more so for work purposes or for visiting family members.”
Christina Zammit La Rosa, General Manager at Zammit La Rosa Footwear, says their Valletta shop, King Shoe Shop, is not yet operating at a full 70-hour week, but rather 40 hours per week. “The reason for this is that until the influx of people is restored, Valletta is quite quiet during the week.”
As most establishments in Valletta closed and made way for restaurants and bars, Ms Zammit La Rosa says people who want to go shopping are heading to areas more densely populated with shops – such as Sliema.
“Valletta has morphed into a city for eating, drinking, lounging and meandering more than it is for shopping. We feel this with every passing day and the fact that the open market is never fully set up (normally not more than 60 per cent of the hawkers set up) is a further sign that the general population have not returned to their usual habits,” she asserts.
The General Manager adds that month-on-month, sales are slowly increasing, “however, we are nowhere near our sales figures when compared to the same period last year, which is another concern when forecasting the remainder of the year. All of us are quite concerned about the proverbial second wave and what it will do to those businesses who are barely holding together. It is essentially a domino effect.”
She explains while one business attracts one consumer type, another will attract a different consumer type, and combined together, these bring a variety of consumers to any named city. But if businesses haven’t reopened after the first wave or if they start closing after the second wave, this will affect the density of the consumer type attracted to the city.
“So honestly, although we are eager for an influx of tourism, it is mixed with apprehension of what it will bring with it and what this will mean for smaller companies – be them in Valletta or otherwise,” says Ms Zammit La Rosa
Chris Gauci, co-owner of the iconic Wembley Store in Republic Street, says following the lifting of precautionary measures in May, “we have seen very little improvement if at all.”
“Valletta has a very small residential population and most businesses are dependent on tourism or on other businesses that are dependent on tourism,” he asserts, adding that while the full reopening of the airport next week “should” improve the current situation, “it will depend on tourists’ perception of how safe they feel going about their holiday. We expect this will happen very, very slowly.”
Government has attempted to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on Valletta's business community by dedicating a €750,000 aid package for the capital.
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