Restaurants too expensive for Maltese, but tourists think they're good value

Maltese people find local restaurants expensive but most tourists consider them to be good value for money, a catering sector survey has revealed. 

A survey commissioned by the Association of Catering Establishments (ACE), and carried out by Prof. Vincent Marmara from Sagalytics, asked 400 Maltese citizens and 100 tourists questions about their attitudes towards local restaurants.

The study revealed that over half of Maltese respondents – 58.5 per cent – felt that local restaurants were expensive, while only 13.8 per cent believed that restaurants offered good value for money.

Meanwhile, tourists showed the opposite trend: 55.4 per cent said restaurants offer good value for money, while only 14.5 per cent found them expensive.

“Whilst the tourist believes restaurants to be good value for money, the locals don't think this is the case. I think that catering establishments should flag this and work on it. If this is the way we are being seen, then this is an element that needs to be addressed,” ACE vice-president Omar Vella said.

ACE vice-president Omar Vella. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Both locals and tourists agreed that food quality is the top priority when dining out, followed by service quality, ambience, and location. Vella said that customers’ emphasis on food quality, in light of their complaints about high prices, reflects rising standards and expectations.

The survey also revealed that tourists are either dining once or twice a day, as almost 45 per cent of tourists reported dining out at a restaurant once a day, while 32.5 per cent said twice a day.

Maltese respondents, on the other hand, said that they either eat at a restaurant once a week (25 per cent) or once a month (23.5 per cent). Vella said that this shows that the habit of dining out is still very strong, despite locals feeling that the service is too expensive.

To further improve the quality of service being provided, the Tourism Minister said that more work needs to be done on the skills pass.

Tourism Minister Ian Borg. Photo: Christ Sant Fournier

"There is a lot of room for improvement with regard to our skills pass system as this will continue to have a role in sustaining quality across the sector," Borg said.

High taxes

During a panel moderated by journalist James Cummings, ACE's secretary general Matthew Pace was asked about people's complaints regarding high restaurant prices.

Pace noted that restaurants pay around 18 per cent VAT, higher than in many other Mediterranean countries. Besides this, the cost of buying raw materials in Malta is higher than in other countries, he said.

ACE has spent years lobbying the government to slash VAT for the sector, arguing that local restaurants are barely making a profit.  

During the press conference, PN spokesperson for tourism Mario de Marco indicated he was sympathetic to the lobby group's VAT push: the government should consider relieving the tax burden on restaurants, at least until prices settle, he said. 

Tourists are much less likely to tip

Both locals and tourists surveyed were also asked about their tipping practices. The majority of respondents believe that a tip amounting to five per cent of their bill is fair.

However, the study showed that tourists are more likely to skip tipping, as 40 per cent of tourists said they would not, compared to 14 per cent of Maltese respondents.

Responses also showed that a Maltese person would spend an average of €94.77 a month on restaurants, while a tourist would spend €41.67 per visit.

Vella noted that although the amount tourists spend has increased, inflation needs to be taken into account.

“We are still not targeting quality tourists,” Vella said.

Given these findings, he urged the government to honour its Vision 2050 commitment to focus on quality tourism, but also asked catering establishments to pull their weight to increase quality and keep up with customer demand.

Half of Maltese customers open to drinking filtered tap water

In light of the government’s campaign urging people to start drinking tap water, the survey asked whether respondents would be open to drinking filtered tap water.

Around half of the Maltese respondents said that they would be open to drinking filtered tap water, 39 per cent said that they would stick to bottled water, while the rest responded “maybe.”

However, tourists were more indecisive, as 37.3 per cent said they would take tap water, 32.5 per cent said maybe, and 30 per cent said they would continue drinking bottled water.

Results showed that people were keener to drink filtered tap water if it was free. The number of people who said they would drink tap water increased by five percentage points for both groups when asked whether they would drink filtered tap water if it were free.

An oversaturated market

ACE president Michelle Muscat spoke about the oversaturated market, given that there are around 4,000 restaurants with 500 pending applications, in a place where over 500,000 people reside.

Pace also picked up on this, stating that currently, restaurants offer 880,000 covers, indicating many seats are not being taken up.

ACE Secretary General Matthew Pace. Chris Sant Fournier

As such, he suggested that restaurant applications should be more stringent, and applicants should be screened better to check if they are contributing to the sector.

Tourism professor Marie Avellino disagreed with Pace's point, stating that this should not be a question of licensing, but about the individual establishment strategising itself better and ensuring that it caters to a target audience.