During a press conference with the theme ‘A Healthy Economy – A Future for Our Children’, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism Ian Borg and Minister for the Economy, Enterprise and Strategic Projects Silvio Schembri listed a number of measures that affect the business and tourism sectors.
The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that last Monday’s Budget will mean increasing investment in the product that our country offers to those who come to visit us and will keep at its core the workers who serve as ambassadors of our country. One of the main measures, that of increasing the eco-contribution paid by tourists and rising from €0.50 to €1.50 for each night they spend in our country, will further strengthen investment in infrastructure and the environment in certain areas.
He said that among the first areas that will benefit from this measure are the streets of Paceville where they will ensure that they are given a befitting appearance to the area which is an integral part of the tourist product that our country offers and which has benefited from major investment in recent years. “Last Monday’s Budget continued to put forward a number of measures in favour of the tourism industry and is one that looks ahead and builds on the much that has already been done. With the measure where a greater contribution of the eco-contribution will be collected from tourists, we will continue to strengthen our tourism offer without increasing the financial burden on the people. We will ensure that our country remains a quality destination and that we maintain at a high level areas such as Paceville itself which will be one of the first to benefit,” said Dr Borg.
This continues to build on the much that has already been done among others in Comino where during last summer a clear signal was given that with the involvement of everyone we can achieve a better balance for higher quality experiences in our country. In Comino, visitors decreased by 68% when comparing the busiest days in August last year with those of the same month this year. Plans have now been submitted to the Planning Authority so that the facilities of this island continue to improve and go hand in hand with the beauty of Comino.
In light of the pilot project announced a few weeks ago with the localities of Swieqi and Valletta to address the challenges they are facing, the Deputy Prime Minister also stressed that efforts will continue so that accommodation used for tourist purposes also reaches our ambitions in the National Tourism Strategy. “Therefore, we are seeing that we have a legislative framework changed to meet today’s needs, which offers greater clarity to both the owners of these properties, and also to those who live in the surrounding area, so that tourism continues to be well-received in our communities,” explained Dr Borg.
The Deputy Prime Minister also mentioned the fact that other measures, including marketing and the opening of new air routes such as that of the United States, will continue to strengthen efforts to continue the shift towards higher quality tourism that leaves more in our country.
Minister Silvio Schembri explained how this budget is based on the Malta 2050 Vision. A clear vision that Malta grows stronger and at the same time transforms into a more resilient, smarter and cleaner economy and so that the country’s success is no longer measured by how much GDP grows but by the quality of life of Maltese and Gozitan citizens. Minister Schembri said that in the coming weeks he will be presenting to Parliament a new law that will regulate the operation of Malta Enterprise and INDIS, in particular how land is allocated for industry. This will also lead to the process that will see that for the first time in our country we will have a National Policy for Industry. In this way, we will be focusing on an industry that offers added value to our economy. Therefore, a very strong measure has been announced where investment made in this direction in the next two years will be eligible for a tax credit of 60% of the investment value.
“In this budget too, we are continuing to invest in young people. We will be looking to change the mentality among our young people, we do not only want to prepare our children for the world of work, but also encourage them to become entrepreneurs. Therefore, we will introduce legal amendments to protect and give young people between the ages of 16 and 18 the chance to become entrepreneurs in a safe and regulated manner,” said Minister Schembri. He also spoke about the various measures and schemes aimed at start-ups in our country.
Minister Schembri said that a very strong measure is that of an unprecedented investment of €100 million for the digitalisation and adoption of technologies such as AI, Internet of Things, Cybersecurity, Augmented and Virtual Reality and Robotics.
