Festivities ‘could have been worse’ for hotels and restaurants
David Darmanin With a sharp decline of 25%, retailers were most affected by the recession this Christmas. But for the leisure and tourism sector this year’s festivities have a different meaning as many stakeholders observe that the situation “could have been worse”.
“Some restaurants were full, while some others were not,” MHRA CEO George Schembri told MaltaToday. He said that even though the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association so far has data up until 19 December, it seems that “the number of staff parties organised this year is roughly the same as last year, although budgets were generally tighter.”
But when it comes to bookings for the festive days, restaurants “still lag behind when compared to last year”, he said.
“With regard to hotels, bed count seems to be slightly down,” he added. “But this is based on information we have on bookings made up until a week before Christmas. Due to the last-minute trend in tourism, everything can change overnight. Even the storms in the UK may have a bearing on the outcome. Some may actually leave the bad weather and go on holiday.”
GRTU Leisure and Hospitality President Philip Fenech said that prospects look bright for New Year’s Eve.
“For the majority of leisure establishments, sales are down when compared to last year, but that was to be expected,” Fenech says. “Everybody knew that this was not going to be an easy season because of the recession.”
The GRTU received mixed comments on the performance of the tourism and catering industry during the Christmas season. “A lot of the top-end restaurants for instance, have managed to secure corporate bookings for staff parties and still did well. But we noticed that in the mid-range sector, restaurants were affected due to the number of offices and households who decided to organise their Christmas dos in-house – meaning that outside caterers benefited from this shift.”
Christmas Eve was reported to have been comparable to “a good Saturday night, but not an outstanding one.”
Although mid-range restaurants do not seem to have done that well due to scarcity in tourism numbers so far, many are hoping for a last-minute push through the days leading to the New Year.
“Tourism always improves during the New Year,” Fenech explained. “But it seems that this year, those who abstained during the Christmas festivities will give it their all this weekend. Prospects are likely to improve – as can be seen from hotel bookings that have generally increased over the last few days.”
Pondering on the idea that tourism could benefit due to bad weather afflicting the UK – Malta’s main tourism market – Fenech said that there could be a “dual effect where one neutralises the other.”
“As much as you may have those who decide not to risk travelling in such bad weather, others will say ‘to hell with it’ and leave the UK to warmer destinations over the festive period.”
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