Gozo tourism industry registers decline in first four months of 2017

Profits earned by tourism establishments in Gozo in the first four months of this year were less than those registered in the same period, a survey conducted by the Gozo Tourism Association has shown.

Respondents included hotels and other collective accommodation, self-catering accommodation establishments, restaurants, diving centres, transport services providers, tourist attractions, tour operators & travel agencies.

46 percent of all establishments declared that their profits between January and April this year had fallen over 2016, wheras 28% said profits were on the same level as last year, and only 26% saying that their profits had increased.

45% of respondents said that the performance of their establishment had fallen when compared to the same period last year. 27% qualified their business performance as being equal to that registered last year while a further 27% said that they had performed better this year.

With regards to business revenue generated in the first four months of the year, 43% of the establishments said business was worse off than 2016, while 27% said their revenue was equal to that of last year. 30% of respondents said their business had fared better in the first quarter of this year than it did it 2016.

When asked to identify the nationality of their clientele, 49% said their clients were Maltese while 7% said they catered to Gozitan clients. 43% said their clientele was foreigners and tourists.

54% of respondents stated that the lack of employees was having a negative impact on their business, while 22% said that although it was not easy to find employees, the issue was not affecting their business so much. 20% of establishments said that they have a stable work force.

With regards to the most-prevalent vacancies, 38% of establishments said they were looking for cleaners and maids, while 24% were in need of service staff and 16% were looking for kitchen staff. Other respondents said they had vacancies for front office and customer care personnel, maintenance crews and sales persons.

As to the domestic market, nearly half of Gozo establishments operating in the tourism industry said they registered no difference in the performance of the domestic market in the first four months this year when compared to the same period last year.

29% of respondents, however, said they had registered an improvement, while 24% said the domestic market performance had fallen over 2016.

When asked to predict how the summer months would affect their business, 23% of establishments said they expected this summer to be worse than last year. 41% of respondents said they thought business would remain the same, while 36% predicted an increase in business generated during the summer months over last year.