Some hotels are considering skipping the summer season altogether and only reopening to guests in March 2021, because of the impact coronavirus is having on the number of tourists expected to arrive on the island.
The president of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, Tony Zahra, said hoteliers were basing their decision on the seating capacity forecast for flights over the next few months.
Based on ‘today’s knowns’, Zahra said seat capacity was down from last year to 27% this month, 43% in August, 50% in September and is forecast to remain at that level between October and March.
He said: “Some hotels are considering opening in March 2021. They may actually wait until then. I am not informed yet whether decisions have been taken, but they are waiting to see how things pan out in July.”
Zahra said the situation remained highly fluid and would change if tourists could be encouraged to fly.
Air Malta, last week, announced additional scheduled services from October to “further assist the local tourism industry, including hotels, restaurants and other operators, and subject to health assessments”. The airline said it had been seeing a gradual increase in bookings.
The Radisson Blu Resort, in St Julian’s, is among those hotels that did not open immediately when flights resumed this month. It is scheduled to start operating in early August.
A decision has not yet been taken for its neighbouring sister, Marina Hotel, which would open “later in the year”, a spokesperson said.
Bookings have been grouped into the five-star Corinthia Hotel, positioned between the two, which is up and running, the group said, adding that decisions would be taken based on sufficient volumes as and when that may be.
AX Hotels is opening up all its properties in Sliema, Qawra and Valletta but its hospitality director, Claire Zammit Xuereb, said “we are being very selective on the wings we open to keep the costs as low as possible.”
She noted that were it not for the government supplement, the “huge losses” for the hotel “would be even bigger”.
Meanwhile, Zahra said he could also see a potential silver lining in some hotels’ wait-and-see approach: “Perhaps, this could help the industry in that the supply of beds on the market would not be so high, creating a balance and avoiding a price war, with those opening being able to charge a reasonable rate.”
Registered unemployed number doubles
The number of people registering for work throughout June stood at 4,270, increasing by 2,654 when compared to the corresponding month in 2019.
Data provided by Jobsplus yesterday shows that unemployment increased across all age groups.
The biggest increase was recorded among those registering for work for less than 21 weeks, however, those who had been registering for work for more than one year went down when compared to the same month last year, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said.
The NSO noted that the biggest share of men and women on the unemployment register sought occupations as clerical support workers, with 20.7 per cent and 34.5 per cent, respectively.