Michael Refalo fêted by MHRA

Former Minister Michael Refalo said yesterday he was leaving tourism with a heavy heart, but with a great feeling of pride, satisfaction and achievement.

Dr Refalo was speaking at a reception in his honour, organised by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association.

He said he would still be taking an interest in tourism, albeit from a back seat.

Dr Refalo, who led the tourism industry for 12 of the past 16 years, was not elected in the general election.

He said that a seven per cent increase in first preference votes for him, although not sufficient to ensure a seat in the House of Representatives, made him realise that more constituents than before believed that he could still contribute to Malta's progress.

Confirming his intention to stand for the casual elections, Dr Refalo admitted that his name appearing low in the alphabetical list of surnames on the ballot paper put him at a disadvantage.

MHRA president Winston Zahra paid tribute to Dr Refalo and welcomed Francis Zammit Dimech as the new Tourism Minister.

Over the past 16 years, visitor numbers and employees directly employed in the industry doubled to 1.2 million and 12,000 respectively and gross earnings tripled to close to Lm300 million annually.

Mr Zahra highlighed Dr Refalo's achievements, such as the setting up of the Institute of Tourism Studies and the Malta Tourism Authority.

"Procrastination and putting off unpopular decisions are not words that come to mind when trying to sum up the years during which Dr Refalo led our industry," Mr Zahra said.