The ongoing power cuts, shabbiness across the country, congested roads and ongoing construction works are seriously impacting the future of tourism, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association warned on Monday.

"Urgent action is needed or else Malta risks losing its appeal as a destination of choice,” it said in a strong statement.

The warning came four days after the Chamber of Commerce slammed the government for what it said was a lack of long-term planning that was negatively impacting Malta's economy and quality of life.  

Lack of cleanliness

It said the state of public cleanliness and upkeep left much to be desired.  Malta has become very shabby and dirty, and this is unacceptable if we are aiming to remain a destination of choice, the hoteliers said.

Cleaning, upkeep, and enforcement must be carried out especially across all the streets of our tourism zones and beaches, and not only designated areas.

Better protection of our sea must be taken up as maritime activity increases dramatically during the summer period.

"Malta needs more investment, better management, serious enforcement, and immediate action before it becomes too late," the association said. 

A permanent construction site

Turning to the road infrastructure and construction projects, the association complained that Malta was being turned into a permanent construction site experience, creating gross inconveniences for both locals and tourists alike.

Malta has reached a stage where no locality or street is spared from any construction activity, causing noise, dust, and aesthetic pollution

"Malta has reached a stage where no locality or street is spared from any construction activity, causing noise, dust, and aesthetic pollution. No proper central coordination and management of such activity is in place leading to chaos and long queues of traffic everywhere, all the time.

"We need to take the bull by the horns as the situation in our streets is in a dire state and will do nothing but put off tourists and their families and friends from ever considering coming back again to our islands," it said.

Power cuts causing serious reputation damage

Referring to the past week's power cuts, the association said many of its members had suffered financial losses because of lost food stock, cancelled bookings and damage to equipment running into thousands of euros. More importantly, they had suffered reputational damage.

"Many tourists who found themselves in hotels without electricity have turned to social media complaining that their vacation was ruined with some also giving low-scoring reviews to hotels on booking platforms. The same applies to restaurants affected by power cuts whose patrons were disappointed. These restaurants lost precious peak season opportunities as they were not able to function without electric energy."

All of this, the association said, was having a serious negative impact on the current and future business of hotels and restaurants.

"The industry recognises that the temperature spikes in the past days were higher than the average levels, however, the number of faults and outages have seriously affected the industry. The government must ensure action as such events will no longer be considered extraordinary but will be the norm," the association said.

"The damages to the industry caused in the past days are enormous. Climate change is here to stay, and action must be taken to avoid a repeat next year or after that. Without timely decisions and actions, we will end up in a situation where the damage caused to the image and identity of destination Malta becomes irreparable."

The government, it said, needs to walk the talk to ensure Malta does not lose its appeal as a destination of choice.