Mass tourism unemployment looms unless airport reopened, MHRA boss warns

The tourism industry risks facing a situation of mass unemployment unless Malta's borders are re-opened for tourists, Tony Zahra has warned.

The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association president said operators in sector will let go of workers if there is no summer tourist season.

While acknowledging the great importance of safeguarding lives, Zahra said it was equally important to start protecting livelihoods, as he urged the government to get tourism going again.

"The tourism sector in Malta has reached ground zero as result of this crisis and is now desperate to reopen and face the 'new normality," the MHRA president said in a statement on Monday.

"MHRA emphasises that it is important that we keep safeguarding lives but equally important that we need to start working together to protect livelihoods." 

Health authorities, he said, had to keep being vigilant and perform their essential and respectful role in our society, but the economy also had to be reignited. 

"The economy will not be as we’ve been accustomed to over the past years – it will be a new reality for all, however we cannot keep procrastinating from opening our tourism sector," he stressed.

Zahra underlined that the government was spending millions every day to keep the economy afloat while everyone in the tourist industry remained home.

“Every day that passes the economy is sinking further and further into trouble and every day that passes government is spending circa €11 million er day or €330 million per month to keep everyone at home, money which the government is borrowing and has to be repaid from everybody’s taxes in the future," he said.

"If we don’t open the airport then we shall see mass unemployment as there is no reason for anyone in the tourist industry to hold on to staff if there is no summer." 

Operators in the tourism industry, he said, will let everyone go and rehire their staff in Easter 2021 - provided that they are still around by that time. 

"This is not a threat, this is not an argument supporting wealth against health or otherwise – this is a fact of life," he said.

The MHRA, Zahra said, was appealing to the government to now steer the country in the direction of restarting the economy through tourism, while ensuring "reasonable safety measures for staff, employees and residents, reflecting the new reality which we all need to adapt to rather than hide from."