Gozo hoteliers are bracing themselves for the effects of what they are defining as one of the worst summer seasons in years, as occupancy levels are dropping drastically, while stays are becoming shorter and almost exclusively dependent on the local market, which also is registering a drop.
With core markets Britain and Germany experiencing a tough recession, bookings are reportedly at a low, with some hotels registering a 35 per cent drop in arrivals, while the Maltese market is becoming the almost sole occupant of hotel rooms, and limited to the weekends.
“The situation is critical,” said Gozo Tourism Association secretary Joseph Muscat when contacted by Business Today.
He said that statistics showing a 117,000 decrease in passengers crossing to Gozo during the first six months of the year, clearly proves how serious the situation is.
“We can say that 90 per cent of these lost passengers are Maltese, as the foreign market is almost at a standstill,” Muscat said, while adding that the season is so bad that comparisons cannot even be drawn between this year and 2007 or 2008.
One leading Gozitan hotelier who chose to remain unnamed, said that as things stand, it is becoming economically non-viable to keep a hotel open for just weekends, when the Maltese seem to flock to Gozo.
The bleak situation is reflected in almost every sector in Gozo, as businessmen are complaining of lack of bookings for hired cars, furnished apartments or farmhouses.
“There simply is no disposable cash,” the hotelier said, adding that the increase in utility tariffs has eaten out of the family holiday budgets.
To counter this reality, hoteliers are also faced with increased running costs, making the operation economically strenuous, and forcing owners to ponder on the choice of closing down for the winter, and the low season, while sending home the employees.
The scenario is reportedly even worse for five star category hotels where economies of scale dictate no comparison with the lack of revenues generated and the heavy investments made in overseas marketing made privately by the operators themselves.
Increased energy tariffs, coupled with heavy increases in swimming pool license fees, and lower cash flows are reportedly all factors that are putting hotel operations in financial turmoil.
Hoteliers also told Business Today that the season is clearly indicating that no operation could possibly recoup the heavy losses hotels have already faced during the last winter and low season.
Hoteliers have also blamed the media for reporting the negative effects of the recent swine flu outbreak in Gozo.
“We have had to face mass cancellations, especially from the Maltese,” another hotelier said, while adding that the cultural incentive on the sister island has also driven people away as Heritage Malta increased the entrance fees to the Ggantija Temples and the Cittadella.
