State agency Heritage Malta has found itself in dire straits, as the loss in ticketing revenue due to the closure of the sites it administers following the outbreak of coronavirus means it might not have sufficient funds to cover employees’ wages.

Culture Minister Jose Herrera made the announcement in parliament on Monday in reply to a series of questions on how the closure of the site and museums administered by the agency, which total around 60, had been affected.  

Citing figures for last year, he noted that Heritage Malta makes an annual profit of around €8 million from the sales of tickets, which equates to around €600,000 per month. The agency’s other stream of revenue is a government allocation of around €6 million.

The agency is hoping to make up at least part of the shortfall through virtual tours, done online, of historical sites it administers. 

National Archives closed

Commenting about other measures being taken by the Culture Ministry, Herrera announced that public access to the National Archives had been closed as from Monday, on the advice of the health authorities.

Online cultural programme

Herrera also spoke about an online cultural programme being prepared which would have the dual role of providing a platform for local artists to perform and mitigate some of their financial losses.

Another initiative in the pipeline is a set of cultural television programmes which are being produced in collaboration with Arts Council Malta and PBS. These programmes will have the primary objective of educating educate thousands of children staying at home due to the indefinite closure of schools announced earlier this month.