Gozo bodies lash out at ferry fare increases

The increases in Gozo ferry fares were a betrayal of the Gozitan tourism industry, the Gozo Tourism Association said yesterday.

Government Investments Minister Austin Gatt on Wednesday announced a one-off increase in passenger fares to come into effect in June and a staggered increase in vehicle rates.

The cost of taking a car on the ferries will rise by between 17 and 45 per cent by 2006 while the passenger fee is rising between 14 and 66 per cent.

The GTA asked what representatives from the Gozitan tourism industry had been consulted about before the new rates were worked out.

"Who is going to absorb these increases when the Gozitan tourism operators have contracted and committed packages including transfers for summer 2004 up to March 2005?

"Does the minister know that these increases will continue to make Gozo less competitive compared to other Mediterranean destinations?" the association asked.

It said that although the minister stated that no crew members at Gozo Channel would be dismissed, the measure would result in job losses in the tourism sector in Gozo.

"Did the Cabinet take into consideration the report by Deloitte and Touche commissioned by the Gozo Tourism Association and the Gozo Business Chamber on the potential impact of the ferry fare increase?"

According to this report, the GTA said, the 14 per cent increase in fares for non-Gozitans would result in an estimated Lm264,000 increase in Gozo Channel revenue but a decrease of Lm 1.6 million to the Gozitan economy. Furthermore, a drop of six per cent in passenger numbers was estimated.

"Is this not a concern to the Cabinet?"

The association said Gozo Channel also had a social obligation towards Gozitans, who had to cross over to Malta for work and other needs.

A 66 per cent increase in the Gozitan residents' fare would also have a negative impact.

It said this was the third mistake since August last year when the winter schedule was reduced and the luggage trolley service suspended as a result of industrial action.

The increases were also attacked by the Gozo Chamber of Commerce.

It referred to the GTA study which had pointed out that any increase in fares, no matter how small, would have a negative impact on Gozo. The increases announced by the minister, it said, could not be considered marginal in any way.

It said the Gozitan economy could not afford such increases at the moment and it was a mistake to try to justify the rates by comparing them to temporary increases in the past.

The chamber appealed to Gozitan MPs, local councils and non-governmental organisations to show their disapproval over the decision.

A Gozitan who commutes daily to Malta for work, Saviour Grech, sees the fare increase as very unfair, drawing a contrast with the way transport infrastructure in Malta is being funded.

"The public has been informed that the regional road bridges need to be seen to because they have developed signs of structural defects. If need be they will be demolished and reconstructed. Will those using these bridges be asked to pay anything?"

He observed that EU funding was being secured for this project as part of the Cirkewwa to Freeport European road. There would also be Italian money for the reconstruction of the Mgarr to Rabat road - so it won't be commuters paying for that either as they were being asked to do in the case of the Gozo ferries.

"In the pre-electoral, pre-referendum discussion we were told that this arterial road, for which EU regional funds will be available, does not stop at Cirkewwa but extends through Mgarr (Gozo) and to Victoria.

"Now, just before EU accession day, we Gozitan workers who have to commute daily to our work are being asked to make good through our pockets for faults which, after all, are not of our own making."