18 March 2007 Rating 7% No Comment  

The Malta Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises has reiterated that "the crisis tourism is facing requires extraordinary remedies", after having called for the resignation of the Minister for Tourism Francis Zammit Dimech. The GRTU insisted that the measures the government is undertaking to counter the declining tourism figures "are not leading to a truly effective solution". The Chamber added that "if there is a crisis, the Prime Minister must carry the responsibility, because a Minister alone is not going to impose measures that place Malta in its deserved position in this sector. The loss is too great to be remedied with simple measures." The Chamber further stated that in an economic analysis it carried out, contribution to the economy from tourism dropped by 14% over a period of ten years. "Far worse is that the strong pool of companies in this sector are on the decrease because operating surpluses here are among the worst in all economic sectors," continued the GRTU. While insisting that Malta cannot afford to waste anymore time, the GRTU pointed out that enterprise owners are giving up and require renewed faith that the present situation will resolved.