The tourism industry is once again going through a difficult patch because, as many had anticipated, the war against COVID does not appear to be anywhere near won.

In the situation, the hotel and catering lobby has appealed to the government to let them tap into yet more taxpayer money to stimulate their businesses back to growth.

There is no doubt about the appropriateness of the government’s decision to provide what is practically helicopter money to most businesses in order to avoid a deeper recession caused by COVID. Now, however, it is time to start planning how this expensive fiscal strategy should be wound down gradually, so as to ensure that future generations are not burdened by a mountain of debt.

Instead, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association wants the government to grant tax exemptions on overtime and part-time income to those employed in the sector to encourage more employees to fill the numerous vacancies in the industry. A prominent hotelier, Claire Zammit Xuereb, asked what the government was offering to reverse and mitigate the exodus of foreign workers.

What both tourism policymakers and operators should really be asking is whether the business model adopted by most entrepreneurs in this sector and others, encouraged by the government policy on foreign workers, is the right one for their industry. Building a sustainable industry like tourism on cheap imported labour carries operational risks that should not be countered by tapping into taxpayers’ money.

The ADPD party is right in reminding the hotel and catering industry that they are not correct to “once again demand special treatment” because the sector itself bears a lot of the responsibility for the problems they are facing. The business model of a tourism operation built on maximising profits by treating low-paid workers as a commodity, who can be hired and fired as and when required, is bound to fail.

ADPD chairperson Carmel Cacopardo is correct in arguing the “any aid to the sector must be linked to better conditions of work and a change in the business model to one of sustainable tourism”.

The Malta Tourism Authority and the Minister for Tourism continue to ignore the risk of overinvestment in tourism. This overinvestment takes the form of constant increases in the supply of mediocre tourism establishments and services, overcrowding in tourist hotspots and gridlocks on our inadequate road system caused by even more cars and coaches.

Some policymakers will argue that this is the inconvenience ordinary people have to put up with for the sake of having a country that can be described as modern. Implied in this argument is the worrying fact that honest taxpayers who pay their dues on time are expected to protect the investment of those who just want more of the same kind of tourism built on a failed business model.

The government should be announcing its plans to take the country out of this emergency phase. It should be having a discussion on how to fairly distribute the burden of repaying the debt it has incurred over the last two years. Younger generations already have bleak prospects for the future with, for instance, galloping inflation in house prices encouraged by a laissez faire management of the industry by the government.

The tourism business model is not fit for purpose. Asking taxpayers to underwrite the risks of strategies built on short-term gain and capital appreciation of physical assets is not suitable for long-term investors, employees in the industry, taxpayers or the country.