Hotels and restaurants are reported to have had a generally good New Year’s Eve despite the cancellation of mass events and a surge in COVID-19 cases.

MHRA president Tony Zahra told Times of Malta business was as good as could be expected given the pandemic.

He said that from the hotels’ perspective, the association received reports of good occupancies over the new year, though January and February remain a concern.

Restaurants reported good business on New Year’s Eve, although most were operating at below capacity during these challenging times, he said.

Matthew Pace from the association of catering establishments (ACE) said business on New Year’s Eve appeared to have been far better than Christmas Eve, although sales still fell short of pre-pandemic levels.

Pace put the uptick in business between Christmas and New Year’s Eve down to people gradually realising that the key pandemic indicator is hospitalisation numbers rather than the number of cases.

This, he said, coupled with high vaccination rates, increased people’s confidence to go out.

Pace, however, sounded the alarm on staffing levels in the sector and the “abuse” of quarantine rules by staff.

He said it was sad to see restaurants having to turn down bookings just because staffing levels were at 50 per cent of what they should be.

The situation was further impacted on occasions when staff abused the quarantine system to call out of work.

On the year ahead, Pace said ACE had been in contact with the authorities to see how new vaccine certificate rules are going to work out in practice.

As of January 17, valid vaccine certificates will be mandatory for entry into most establishments, including bars and restaurants.

Pace said it is crucial for catering establishments to be included at planning stage to prevent any last-minute logistical nightmares.

“Letting staff go is simply not an option. It is very important that we be included on the modus operandi of this vaccine verification system, bearing in mind we are on very limited staff resources,” Pace said.

He concluded with a note of praise for the health authorities for being on the ball throughout the pandemic, saying without this, restaurants would probably not have made it this far.