MTA, MHRA promote non existent accommodation category

Valletta, 27/06/05 - The Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) along with the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association has launched a CD-Rom entitled Malta: Hospitality at its best.  The CD-Rom was produced to promote the budget accommodation sector in Malta and Gozo, including two and three star hotels, hostels, "as well as holiday complexes", reads a release issued by the MTA.

It is odd that the MTA, the authority that abolished the 'holiday complex' category five years ago - when it launched a reclassification exercise - sees fit to promote this non-existent category.

The CD, meanwhile, features information about the islands, together with an interactive map, video clips, MTA contact details and web links to the various properties.

Malta: Hospitality at its best will be distributed through the MTA's overseas network and at international travel and trade shows to further promote the country's offer in the two and three star accommodation sector.

The CD was compiled and produced by the authority's corporate communications and business development division in collaboration with the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association.

MTA unleashes poster campaign in France

Valletta, 27/06/05 - Throughout June the Malta Tourism Authority's Paris office carried out a street poster campaign in five cities in France.

The campaign included 6,000 posters in the centre of Paris as well as 500 posters in Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse and Lille.

Last year more than 86,000 French tourists visited the islands, an increase of 12 per cent over 2003. It is estimated that some 90,000 will travel to Malta this year; from January to April 18,879 had already visited.

British Airways increases fuel surcharge

Mosta, 24/06/05 - British Airways is to increase its fuel surcharge on tickets issued in Britain from 27 June because of further oil price rises, it said earlier today.

The surcharge on long-haul tickets sold and issued in Britain from Monday will rise to £24 (Lm15.55) for each flight from £16 (Lm10.37), while the short-haul surcharge will go up to £8 (Lm5.18) from £6 (Lm3.89), BA said.

"The continuing rise in global oil prices to almost $60 (Lm21.35) a barrel means a further surcharge increase is regrettably unavoidable," BA commercial director Martin George said, Reuters reports.

BA said the additional fuel surcharge does not apply to tickets already paid for and issued. It has yet to decide on new surcharges for tickets bought outside Britain.

Europe's two biggest low-cost airlines - Ireland's Ryanair and Britain's easyJet - both said they would not introduce surcharges. Both try to absorb oil price rises into their costs to keep fares low.

Oil prices rose to touch $60 for a second day on Friday, extending a streak of record highs that have yet to curb robust US energy demand.

Rising demand from the United States, China and India have caught world producers and refiners off guard, leaving little spare capacity in the event of a supply disruption.

BA forecast a fuel bill for its 2005/06 financial year of around £1.6 billion (Lm1.04bn), some £450 million (Lm291.6mn) higher than in 2004/05.

"Total revenue for the year to March 2006 is now expected to improve by 4.5 to 5.5 per cent, up from the four to five per cent figure issued at the airline's full-year results on 13 May, due to the impact of these latest fuel surcharges," BA said.

WestLB Equity Markets analyst Frank Skodzik said the fuel surcharge rise was positive for the industry as a whole.

"Firstly, the move indicates at least some confidence on the part of BA in the current fundamental market environment, and secondly we think it is very likely that other flag carriers such as Lufthansa or Air France will follow," he said.

BA introduced a £2.50 (Lm1.62) surcharge in May 2004 for both long-haul and short-haul flights. Those initial charges have since risen in several steps as the price of oil has moved higher.

Lufthansa, which raised its long-haul surcharges to €27 (Lm11.60) per flight on 25 April, said it was not planning any increase at present.

A spokesman for Alitalia said it was "evaluating the situation (of increasingly high oil prices) but we are not planning to take any action at the moment".

Greek flag carrier Olympic Airlines said it would keep track of what other airlines did and had made no decision yet on raising fuel surcharges, which it introduced last August. A spokesman said the company was more concerned with a strike that was disrupting flights on Friday.

While network carriers like BA and Olympic have brought in surcharges to help buoy profits, budget carriers have not.

On 24 May easyJet warned that high fuel bills would hit profits this year. It said competition was intensifying and air fares were flat.

"We do not have surcharges. We have difficulty raising fares as it is in this market," an easyJet spokesman said on Friday.

Ryanair, which has often said passengers will never have to pay a surcharge, said in a statement: "Only Ryanair guarantees no fuel surcharge on all of our fares, not now, not ever. Why doesn’t BA reduce other costs instead of always gouging their passengers?"

BA's fuel surcharges helped it report on 13 May that its annual operating profit rose a third to £540 million (Lm350mn).

Downtown opens in Victoria

Victoria, 24/06/05 - The Downtown is the first hotel to open in Victoria in living memory. The three star, 40 room Downtown is located on the outskirts of Gozo's capital, yet a few minutes on foot from the city centre.

Rooms are spread on two floors and are simply yet tastefully decorated; all have air-conditioning and central heating, radio and TV, a minibar and Internet access.

Hotel facilities include a restaurant, a café cum wine bar, a shopping arcade and a fully-equipped children's area and day-care centre aptly called Funtown.

An international standard 10-pin bowling alley and American-style grill will be opening soon.

Rack rates on bed and breakfast basis at the Downtown until 31 July are Lm9 per person per night (pppn) in an internal room for weekday stays - defined as Sunday to Thursday - and Lm11 for weekends. A room with a balcony costs Lm10 pppn on weekdays and Lm12 at weekends, but a room with a country view balcony is Lm11 and Lm13 respectively. Prices from 1 August to 30 September are Lm2 higher pppn than the mid-season rate.

Brothers Joseph, Raymond and Victor Bajada and Joseph Portelli own the Downtown - which is the only hotel in Victoria. The general manager is Joe Muscat.

For more information contact: Down Town Hotel, Triq l-Ewropa, Victoria, Gozo. Tel: (+356) 22108000 Fax: (+356) 21566376 E-mail: info@downtown.com.mt

Future not so rosy for Europe's LCCs, says report

Mosta, 24/06/05 - Declining growth rates will take a mounting toll on European low-cost carriers (LCCs), according to an analysis by McKinsey & Co presented yesterday in Frankfurt, writes Leonard Hill in Air Transport World.

Lucio Pompeo, author of the study, stated that the booming industry is at a crossroads: "Few will survive," he warned. The study cited three reasons for falling LCC profitability: Increasingly saturated markets, aircraft orders exceeding likely demand and the growing competition among scheduled airlines, charter companies and LCCs.

He predicted that only two or three LCCs will hold their own in the European market over the long term. "The days when LCCs used market stimulation to expand, with practically no competition, are over," he said.

According to Pompeo, the three largest European LCCs - easyJet, Ryanair and Air Berlin - have on order a total of 300 medium-haul aircraft for delivery by 2012, with options for a further 350. By comparison, the scheduled European airlines have ordered only about 30 of this type with around 160 options, although their market share is currently 66 per cent of overall European air traffic. Conversely, European LCCs have 16 per cent of the market, a figure McKinsey estimates will rise to 24 per cent by 2010.

Signs of market saturation are apparent in places such as Dublin, Cologne and Brussels, the report claims, "and some routes have already been discontinued as LCCs increasingly turn to routes already heavily plied by charter and scheduled airlines."

To add to the challenges facing the sector, LCCs and legacy carriers are competing for business travel customers while charters and LCCs battle over vacationers. Between 2000 and 2004, charter airlines nearly doubled their seat-only offers from 20 per cent to 36 per cent. At the same time, scheduled airlines are copying LCC concepts by offering cheaper tickets, expanding online sales and sometimes starting up their own low-fare clones, such as SAS's Snowflake and germanwings, a subsidiary of Eurowings, in which Lufthansa holds a 49.9 per cent stake.

Pompeo's conclusion: "Despite cost advantages for LCCs, expected growth will not suffice to achieve profitability for many companies."

Fewer beds mean better March occupancy, NSO claims

Valletta, 23/06/05 - Occupancy trends in March show an increase compared to the same month in 2004. This is due to a decrease of 3,348 beds, the National Statistics Office (NSO) claims in a very confusing release. The number of available beds dropped from 41,088 in March 2004 to 37,740 this March.

Nearly two thirds of visitors, 65.4 per cent, stayed in four star hotels in March and 57 per cent checked in at hostels, according to the NSO.

Total nights spent in Malta and Gozo decreased by 2.6 per cent compared to the same month in 2004. Coincidentally, the average number of nights spent on the islands totaled 6.5 in March 2004 and in March 2005. However, the NSO reports a decrease of 0.3 per cent in bednights on Malta, plus a decrease in length of stay from 7.4 to 7.3 nights.

In Gozo bednights decreased substantially, whilst the average nights spent decreased from 2.8 in March 2004 to 2.6 in March 2005.

Cruise liner arrivals up in 2005

Valletta, 22/06/05 - In May the number of cruise liner passengers visiting Malta rose by 5,352 over the same month last year to 36,092 from 30,740, the National Statistics Office reports.

The number of cruise liner passengers from Italy rose by 4,695, to 7,545 from 2,850 in May last year. Other increases were recorded from the Austria (+329), France (+1,689), Spain (+293), Germany (+4,958) and  the catch-all ‘others’ category (+1,843).

In the first five months the year, the number of cruise liner passengers that visited the Maltese islands went up by 21,814 over the same period last year and totaled 74,425. In the period under review, the highest number of cruise liner passengers came from Germany (17,096) followed by Italy (16,600) and France (9,757).

The majority of passengers, 53 per cent, were between 50 and 79 years old; the 20 to 49 age band represented 36 per cent of cruise liner arrivals whilst children up to 19 years old accounted for eight per cent of the total. Most passengers were women, 52.7 per cent.

Airlines face more fuel price pain in 2006

Mosta, 22/06/05 - Jet fuel prices for next year are staying near record levels in Europe despite a weaker prompt market, causing pain for airlines trying to hedge fuel costs, Reuters reports.

Jet fuel prices have been weighed down this month after heavy imports from the Middle East, though forward prices remain at historically high levels after a surge in underlying gas oil futures and worries over growing demand.

"All the traders are still bullish - they still believe in Chinese demand and gas oil spikes in Europe," said a jet broker. "Any weakness at the front they see as an anomaly."

Prices for transport fuels are being driven by rising global demand, led by China, and by a lack of spare refining capacity for distillate products - diesel, heating oil and jet fuel.

A cargo of jet fuel for July delivery was last priced at $588 (Lm209) a tonne, down from a record $627 (Lm223) in early April though still up 44 per cent from the start of the year and 63 per cent up from a year ago.

But forward prices are even higher. First quarter 2006 paper is at around $620 (Lm220) a tonne and full year 2006 at about $615 (Lm218).

"Jet is a little subdued as airlines are not using up to their forecast volumes, but traders believe jet will be in relatively short supply with diesel demand on both sides of the Atlantic on the increase," said another broker.

European passenger traffic grew six per cent in January-April compared to the previous year, according to International Air Transport Association data, but Europe relies on imports of jet fuel as its refiners have under-invested in recent decades.

"Demand for middle distillates is outstripping the ability of the refining system to produce it," said the Centre for Global Energy Studies (CGES) in a report.

European low-fares airline Ryanair said on Tuesday that its fuel bill would be higher than expected if oil prices remained at record highs, leading to fare hikes and even tougher competition between carriers.

The global airline industry is likely to face losses of $6 billion (Lm2bn) this year, up from $4.8 billion (Lm1.7bn) in 2004 as a result of sky-high fuel costs, Geneva-based IATA has said.

Losses could mount in 2006 if forward jet market prices are maintained. Fund investors have been heavy buyers of forward oil as they tap into worries over winter supplies of heating oil, pushing prices for other distillate products higher.

Uncertainty over future oil direction mean jet fuel sellers, such as majors BP and Total or intermediary banks like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, risk being caught out by even higher price spikes.

"I don't think it's just the funds. I think refiners are bullish and won't hedge, so there is little in the way of calendar 2006 offers," a jet dealer said.

Air France KLM, the world's largest airline by revenue, bought heavily from banks on the forward Q4/2006 paper market in the past month. Ryanair said it was unhedged until September, after which it has hedged at $47 (Lm16.6) a barrel for up to 90 per cent of its fuel costs.

Brokers said airlines often only hedge six months forward, as they are worried about being caught out by a sharp change of direction on the volatile oil market. Increased oil stockpiling could mean a price slide if demand fades.

"I have not seen much of the airlines getting involved yet (for 2006)," said a dealer.

Malta and Tunisia agree on joint tourism promotions

Valletta, 22/06/05 - Malta's and Tunisia's ministers of tourism have agreed to a series of good ideas that in all likelihood will be forgotten by this time tomorrow.

The planks of the accord include joint marketing and promotion, developing tourist flows, training and exchanging experts and promoting investments in each other's tourism sector.

The ministers, Tijani Haddad and Malta's Francis Zammit Dimech, met on Monday in what was the third session of the Malta-Tunisian Joint Commission on Tourism.

Under the heading of marketing and promotion, the ministers agreed to:
• organise "touristic manifestations" in the two countries
• encourage three-point holidays in Malta, Sicily and Tunisia, in particular for long-haul tourists
• encourage bilateral co-operation between the travel agencies of the two countries
• "exchange press and television journalists to report on specific activities taking place in either country"
• promote cultural tourism and tourism-based sport activities between the two countries.

To develop tourist flows, Malta and Tunisia will:
• encourage co-operation between private sector institutions in their countries and to develop tours programmes to increase the tourist flow between their countries
• encourage tour operators in both countries to enhance their co-operation and to join their efforts in order to offer combined holiday packages to attract tourists from remote and niche markets and to "preview trip circuits"
• promote together the "international platforms especially long-haul destinations as combined destinations".

On training and the exchange of personnel, the two countries have committed themselves to:
• "exchange information on their respective experience regarding programmes and studies applied in their countries in the field of tourism training
• exchange experts and trainers and to implement tourism training programmes in the field of tourism training in the respective countries
• organise short apprenticeship courses and training programmes for technicians in hotel management and tourism in the hotel and tourism establishments in the two countries
• encourage closer collaboration between the tourism training institutes of the two countries
• encourage Tunisian nationals, particularly students, to pursue courses in the English language in licensed Maltese schools".

The last and final set of accords relate to promotion of investments in Malta and Tunisia's tourism sector. The Mediterranean countries have agreed to:
• "study the possibility of reciprocal technical assistance in product development improvement to the tourism infrastructure
• encourage the development of investments in tourism in both countries by informing each other on a mutual basis about existing investment opportunities, as well as the investment incentives applied in their countries in the field of tourism".

Commenting on the agreement Zammit Dimech, said both countries are working to attract more tourists, especially in pre-defined tourism segments.

Encouraging three point holidays in Malta, Tunisia and Sicily, "should attract tourists, especially those travelling on long-haul trips who wish to visit more than one country during the same holiday. Such cooperation helps organise a better holiday and reduce costs", added Zammit Dimech.

Sixt prefers Corinthia, and vice versa

Floriana, 22/06/05 - Corinthia Hotels International has signed a 'preferred partner' agreement with "mobility services provider", aka* car rental company, Sixt of Germany.

Clients of both companies booking through each other's reservations offices and through their online systems benefit from preferential accommodation and car hire rates and other special discounts.

Details regarding special rates and discounts will appear on Corinthia's and on Sixt's website.

*also known as

KM switches Budapest terminals

Luqa, 22/06/05 - As of yesterday Air Malta is operating to Terminal 2A instead of Terminal 2B at Budapest's Ferihegy Airport. Throughout summer KM will operating a twice-weekly frequency to the Hungarian capital - on Mondays and Thursdays.

Ryanair warns on fuel cost

Mosta, 22/06/05 - European low-fares airline Ryanair yesterday warned that its fuel costs would be higher than expected if oil prices stayed at record highs, but kept its earnings guidance for the current year unchanged, Reuters reports.

"If it stays at $60 (per barrel) through the remainder of the summer and the winter, our fuel bill will be higher than originally predicted," chief executive Michael O'Leary told reporters.

He said if that happened, his competitors would be forced to increase their fuel surcharges and raise their fares.

"The bloodbath in Europe is continuing and will get worse at $60 a barrel," he said referring to feisty competition among carriers.

He reiterated that every one dollar rise in fuel costs above $47 a barrel would wipe €5 million (Lm1.8mn) off annual pre-tax profits.

Ryanair is unhedged on fuel until September when it is hedged at $47 per barrel covering up to 90 per cent of its fuel costs.

O'Leary said yields for the first quarter, which ends this month, would be flat compared with the same period a year ago while they would rise slightly in the second quarter year on year, reiterating earlier guidance.

Hotels weather loss-making winter

Sliema, 16/06/05 - This has not been a good winter for the islands' hotel industry; we all guessed as much, but now it's official. The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) released results for the first quarter of 2005 today, and they do not paint a pretty picture.

Operating losses were experienced across the industry at a higher rate than in Q1 of 2004. In the five star category losses were 19 per cent higher than last year, five per cent in the four star sector and in the three star segment losses increased significantly.

The MHRA's quarterly survey, presented at the Victoria Hotel and carried out by Deloitte, found that room occupancy levels in Q1 were higher than they were a year ago, although most of this was attributable to an early Easter. The best trend emerged in the four star sector which saw an increase of 4.8 points in occupancy from 54.3 per cent to 59.1 per cent. This is the best result in four years for this category.

The increase in the three star sector was of two per cent and in the five star sector it was very marginal with only a 0.4 per cent increase in occupancy.

Tourist volumes in Q1 were up by 2.5 per cent over last year but if compared to 2002, when there also was an early Easter, they were four per cent down. By the end of April the increase in tourism volumes has all but disappeared (see 20% fewer Maltese travellers in April).

Average achieved room rates fell in the five and three star categories, but increased very slightly in the four star sector because of Easter falling in March. Combined with the increase in occupancy this led to an eight per cent increase in the income generated by four star hotels. In the three star sector income increased by four per cent, but in the five star category if fell by 0.6 per cent.

Payroll costs tended to be static in relation to income generated, but other costs tended to rise. This meant that operating losses were experienced throughout the industry at a higher rate than this time last year.

The Deloitte survey found that in the four star segment this was contained to a five per cent increase in losses, but in the five star sector losses were 19 per cent higher than they were last year.

The survey also found that if Malta's performance was compared to four other resorts abroad, using data from Deloitte's international HotelBenchmark survey, at 47.7 per cent Malta had the lowest occupancy and the lowest room rate when compared to Cyprus, the Costa del Sol, Mallorca and the Canary islands.

Nick Captur, the partner at Deloitte who presented the survey's findings, said "some of the results are encouraging, such as those concerning four star business, and show that after years of decline a recovery may be coming through.

"However the five star sector, where a lot of investment has taken place and where there are some very good hotels, has performed disappointingly. It would appear that there was less conference business, possibly due to the early Easter, and this impacted results negatively."

In a written statement, indisposed MHRA president Justin Zammit Tabona said the association was "disappointed to see that operating losses have increased in all hotel categories. We are also disappointed to see that internationally Malta is at the bottom of the league table. We feel that we should be able to compete head on and win. This proves that so much remains to be done to improve Product Malta and its marketing overseas and the MHRA is committed to working with government and the MTA, putting pressure on where need be, to make things happen. We cannot afford to sit still".

According to the MHRA's survey, meanwhile, the majority of hoteliers in the five star sector feel that the government's target of increasing tourist arrivals by 50,000 this year will not be achievable, whereas in the three and four star sectors some 60 per cent of respondents felt that this increase will be achieved.

Short term projections, meantime, see hotel occupancies up in May for all three categories - two star hotels are not surveyed - and in June five and three star properties are expected to see rises whilst the four star segment is anticipated to show a drop.

20% fewer Maltese travellers in April

Mosta, 13/06/05 - Some 14,937 Malta residents travelled abroad in April, the National Statistics Office reports. Of these 13,314 travelled by air - a drop of 20.4 per cent over April 2004. Not surprisingly, 96.6 per cent of leaving by air went abroad for less than six months.

In the first four months of 2005, 58,820 Malta residents left the islands by air. Compared to the January -April 2004 period this was an increase of 5.2 per cent.

Between January and April 24.9 per cent of Malta-based travellers flew to the United Kingdom, an increase of 3.6 per cent over the same period in 2004.

Italy, with 22.6 per cent of the total, was the second most popular destination for locally-based air travellers followed by Tunisia (8.1 per cent), Germany (6.4 per cent), France (4.3 per cent), Netherlands (3.1 per cent) and Spain (1.0 per cent).

Travel to all but France and Spain dropped so far this year (travel to France dropped 29.9 points and to Spain a staggering 55.3 per cent). Departures to Germany rose 29 per cent over the January-April '04 period, Tunisia was up 17.5 per cent, Italy 5 per cent, the Netherlands 10.6 per cent. Travel to the catch all 'other' destinations rose by 11.6 per cent over 2004.

Gozitans prefer Maltese tourists

Mosta, 13/06/05 - It seems that 74.7 per cent of Gozitans prefer Maltese tourists to foreign visitor, according to a survey carried out by sociologist Mario Vassallo for The Sunday Times (of Malta), and published yesterday.

Only 16.3 per cent of the 300 respondents resident in Gozo said foreign tourists are better than Maltese visitors; nine per cent did not comment.

This is not a surprising response as the majority of foreign tourists visit Gozo for a day, usually on an organised excursion. Malta residents, on the other hand, traditionally spend long weekends on the sister island and spend considerably more than their expatriate counterparts.

Air Malta to operate Reggio frequency

Luqa, 10/06/05 - Air Malta is adding Reggio Calabria to its scheduled network. The weekly service will operate on Tuesdays from 14 June to 27 September. Return flight prices start at Lm72 including taxes, fees and charges.

This service - to the toe of the Italian peninsula - is the result of a deal between Air Malta and the Comune of Reggio di Calabria. And it is expected that this frequency will open up a new market for Italian students from the area, who wish to study English in Malta.

Malta is a value-for-money alternative to the UK and offers excellent English language schools. Young people wanting to learn English see Malta as a pleasant destination for this purpose as it also provides a wide range of entertainment and leisure facilities. It is also expected that this new service will attract other types of holiday makers. 

IHI expects Lm24.4mn turnover in '05

Mosta, 09/06/05 - 2004 was a watershed year for International Hotels Investments (IHI), with the successful completion of a five-year investment programme announced on the company's formation in 2000.

Last year, saw the completion of the total refurbishment of the 517-room Corinthia Alfa Hotel in Lisbon, thus completing the investment programme, which included the acquisition and completion of hotel investment projects in Malta, Budapest and St Petersburg undertaken in previous years.

Throughout these years, IHI raised €140 million (Lm59.9mn) in equity, which, backed by an equivalent amount of bank borrowings and corporate bonds, enabled it to acquire and develop these four hotels, with 1,466 hotel rooms in the five star category.

Alfred Pisani, chairman and CEO of IHI, told shareholders at the annual general meeting held yesterday, that the company is well on track in achieving its performance targets, with all of its hotels now in full operation.

"2005 is our first year in business with all our hotels in operation for the whole year, and performance to date is well in line with our expectations, no doubt resulting in achieving the true value of these assets", he told shareholders.

"Malta, Budapest and St Petersburg in particular have all registered strong increases in demand and profitability, whilst our newly-refurbished hotel in Lisbon is on its way to re-establishing itself as a leading five star conference hotel in the Portuguese market", he said.

With 2005 being the first year of full operation for IHI, turnover is expected to reach €57 million (Lm24.4mn). This improved performance is being further underpinned by a general positive turnaround in the global hospitality industry, as also the lifting of sanctions, which had previously prohibited US citizens and corporations from doing business with IHI.

The Corinthia Group of Malta launched IHI in March 2000 and floated on the Malta Stock Exchange soon after. Corinthia retains a 78 per cent shareholding in the company. The hotels acquired and developed by IHI since include the 250-room Corinthia San Gorg Hotel, the 288-room Corinthia Nevskij Palace Hotel in St Petersburg, the 414-room Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal in Budapest and the 517-room Corinthia Alfa Hotel in Lisbon.

IHI also has a 20 per cent shareholding in Corinthia Hotels International - the Corinthia Group's hotel management arm - and 20 per cent shareholding in Quality Project Management, a construction project management company.

EU finance ministers ask EC for ticket tax study

Mosta, 09/06/05 - European Union finance ministers asked the EU executive on Tuesday to prepare a study on a voluntary tax on airline tickets in the 25 nation bloc that would help finance development aid for Africa, Reuters reports.

This is the second request from the finance ministers for such a study from the commission as the EU executive defied the first request last week because of opposition from at least 10 commissioners.

"The commission refused to do it, but we asked them again", French finance minister Thierry Breton said.

The voluntary levy on airline tickets has drawn criticism from Austria, the Netherlands and tourist destinations Malta, Italy and Greece as well as airlines even when finance ministers agreed on 14 May that it would only be voluntary.

There was no concrete date set for the new study, commission spokeswoman Maria Assimakopoulu said.

"The Luxembourg presidency and the council of ministers gave the commission another mandate to prepare an analytical study on how such a voluntary tax could be implemented on an-EU wide basis", Assimakopoulu said.

The tax is linked to Britain's hopes of putting together a substantial package of increased development aid during its presidency of the Group of Eight nations ahead of a summit in September on eradicating poverty.

"We had a long debate on the air ticket tax and we have to try and move in this direction quickly on the basis of a technical paper from the commission," German finance minister Hans Eichel said.

The optional charge on airline tickets was already a step back from the mandatory levy on air travel or kerosene fuel that French President Jacques Chirac originally proposed in January, with backing of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

But it was seen as a way to break the ice on what might one day become a broader tax to help Africa. Rich nations have agreed to increase assistance to Africa and the developing world to 0.7 per cent of gross national income by 2015, but with EU countries' average aid spending at roughly half that target, they need to raise extra money.

An air travel tax was to be an extra source of aid funding on top of regular development assistance from national budgets.

It would have helped fund the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm) - a body set up by donor countries which would issue bonds to raise cash to buy vaccines. The IFFIm is seen as a pilot project for a broader development fund raising scheme, proposed by British chancellor Gordon Brown, which could help double aid to $100 billion (Lm34.8bn) annually through issuing debt.

But financing for the repayment of the bonds is a problem as some countries worried it would further weigh down their already bloated budget deficits.

Howard Johnson Diplomat installs WiFi

Sliema, 09/06/05 - The four star Howard Johnson Diplomat Hotel has installed a WiFi system that allows users to access the Internet from various areas in the hotel, including guest rooms.

Hotel guests can use their laptop or other hardware devices to browse the Internet, check and receive mail and access their servers. Pre-paid vouchers to use the WiFi system can be bought from the front desk. The hotel is also offering complimentary access to a limited number of sites, such as online newspapers.

Conference delegates and other regular corporate clients get free or discounted WiFi usage.

The wireless system is available in the property's reception area, the Lobby Bar, the terrace facing Tower Road, the conference halls, the Pub - with has its own internet café - and guest rooms. Access will be provided soon in the pool area.

"The installation of WiFi at the Howard Johnson Diplomat Hotel confirms our commitment to offer our guests a five star service at a four star price, therefore good value for money" says group CEO Conrad De Giorgio.

WiFi will be installed in other properties owned and managed by the group, De Giorgio adds.

Kempinski San Lawrenz launches Caribbean spa treatments

San Lawrenz, 09/06/05 - The five star Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz Resort & Spa operates the "most extensive spa facilities in the Mediterranean", offering both Ayurveda and marine care treatments. With the reopening of the property on 1 June, guests can now indulge themselves in unique and luxurious Caribbean spa treatments by Ligne St Barth.

After thorough renovation and extension works, the award-winning Marine Care and Beauty Centre has reserved three of its 31 treatment rooms exclusively for Ligne St Barth treatments. Since 2001, Ligne St Barth has made a name for itself by creating a Caribbean wellness world full of exotic fragrances, based on high quality ingredients from unusual flowers, blossoms and fruits, which are carefully combined to complement different skin types. Fresh products, such as papaya and cucumber mash, are mixed with refined Ligne St Barth elixirs and guests can choose their preferred fragrance. The combination of fresh ingredients, fragrances and fine oils has a relaxing and rejuvenating effect with the sensation of well being lasting long after a treatment.

The Kempinski San Lawrenz operates a spectacular spa covering 1,700 square metres. The Marine Care and Beauty Centre offers a wide range of marine algae baths, herbal and freshwater treatments as well as traditional beauty treatments such as manicure and pedicure. The Ayurveda Centre offers a range of traditional Indian treatments using oils to heal the mind and body.

Meanwhile, a third outdoor pool and 61 more rooms have been added at the hotel. The Kempinski now offers 122 rooms including 48 suites.

Boeing projects doubling of world aircraft fleet by 2024

Mosta, 09/06/05 - Boeing sees a $2.1 trillion (Lm0.8tn) market for new commercial aircraft during the next 20 years. Market demands will more than double the world's commercial aircraft fleet by 2024 and accommodate a forecasted 4.8 per cent annual increase in passenger traffic growth.

The company released its 2005 Current Market Outlook yesterday in London. The report is considered the most comprehensive and well-respected analysis of the commercial aviation market.

"The long-term demand for new aeroplanes is going to remain very strong over the next 20 years," said Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of marketing Randy Baseler. "People will continue to desire travelling where they want to go, when they want to go. And that's reflected in the number and types of aeroplanes we see in our forecast."

In terms of delivery dollars, the largest market is projected to be the Asia-Pacific region, with 36 per cent of the $2.1 trillion total.

Boeing projects a need for approximately 25,700 new commercial aircraft (passenger and freighter) during the next 20 years, more than 80 per cent of which will be in the single-aisle and mid-size twin-aisle categories. This compares with last year's projection of a 25,000 commercial aircraft market, worth $2.0 trillion.

Over the next 20 years, airlines will take delivery of approximately:
• 3,900 regional jets
• 15,300 single-aisle aircraft
• 5,600 mid-size twin-aisle aircraft
• 900 aircraft 747-size or larger (approximately 450 in the 400-500 seats range and about 450 aircraft of 500 seats and above).

These deliveries will result in a world fleet of more than 35,000 aircraft.

"Single-aisle aeroplanes will dominate the market in the next 20 years because they allow airlines to offer more frequencies and increased non-stops in domestic service and short-haul international flights," Baseler said.

"Airlines will also be augmenting their fleets with mid-size twin-aisle aeroplanes to service long-haul markets across Pacific and Atlantic routes. Very large airplanes, 747-size and greater, will account for only a little over three percent of aircraft deliveries in the next two decades."

Westin introduces gyms in rooms

Mosta, 09/06/05 - Westin Hotels & Resorts recently unveiled new, fully equipped WestinWORKOUT rooms that encourage hotel guests to work out in the privacy of their room using a variety of cardio and strength equipment. By the end of June all 77 Westin hotels and resorts in North America will feature the new workout rooms and Westin properties in Europe and Asia will have the new specially designed fitness rooms installed by January 2006.

This marks phase-two of Westin's focus on guest fitness. Since November 2003, Westin Hotels & Resorts has invested more than $10 million (Lm3.5mn) to redesign fitness facilities as part of its mission to develop the travel industry's most extensive fitness and wellness initiative. The centrepiece of this programme is WestinWORKOUT Powered by Reebok - custom designed fitness facilities inspired by upscale health clubs in major cities.

Every WestinWORKOUT room allows guests to maintain their fitness regime by working out in the privacy of their own room and features an indoor cycle or treadmill, pilates/yoga and spinning DVDs and a custom-designed fitness shelf that holds adjustable dumbbells, resistance tubing, a stability ball, yoga mat and additional Reebok workout equipment. This private exercise environment also features a fitness library and a customized local running map.

"We know that two-thirds of travellers want to work out while on the road yet most of them don't make it to the gym," says Sue Brush, senior vice president for Westin. "With WestinWORKOUT rooms, hotel guests are now able to fit their regular cardio, strength training, or exercise routines into their hectic travel schedules with the added luxury of a private workout at any time."

The new WestinWORKOUT rooms will be available for an additional charge, starting around $20 (Lm7) above market room rates in the US.

Declining tourism figures are a warning, says MHRA

Sliema, 02/06/05 - The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) feels that the stagnant results obtained in tourism in the first four months of the year are a warning to the industry and the country, as failure to grow in this sector will discourage further investment and put jobs at risk.

Figures issued by the NSO for April (see Data bank) show that tourist departures decreased by 3.8 per cent on April 2004. In the period January to April a reduction of 0.4 per cent in departing tourists was recorded over the corresponding period last year, with the British market dropping by 4.2 per cent. Other decreases were registered in the number of nights spent in the islands.

MHRA president Justin Zammit Tabona said that after the 3.5 per cent increase in tourists last year it was expected that the momentum would be kept and the industry was looking at a higher rate of growth. However, performance has remained static, emphasising the MHRA's constant questioning of the promotion of Malta abroad, and the state of the product.

Advance bookings are below last year's levels, and the target set by government of an additional 50,000 tourists this year does not appear in sight. Such a situation places rates under pressure, with the result that revenues from this sector stand to drop. Of particular concern is the British market, which alone accounts for 40 per cent of Malta's tourism. In April this market showed a 14 per cent decrease and its share of total tourism to Malta fell to 36.4 per cent.

Zammit Tabona said that the MHRA is not "happy" at the way advertising has been carried out in the UK this year and has been exerting pressure "to stabilise all aspects of promotion in that country". He added that this market was showing signs of yet another year of late bookings, and this situation called for urgent action with focused publicity and advertising. Similar action should be taken in other source markets.

He added that Malta is "just emerging from that part of the year where we have the highest requirement for growth - winter and the shoulder months. Such growth is essential for the sustainability of investments made - new investment can only be seen as a sign of confidence if new capacity, be it beds or restaurant tables, are reasonably filled up. The outgoing low season has been disappointing and we need to gear up to get the best results possible in summer. Action must also commence to ensure that the forthcoming post-Christmas season will give us much better results than the sluggish ones achieved this year".

Skål ecotourism awards 2005

Mosta, 02/06/05 - Companies from the public and private sector as well as NGOs are invited to submit entries for the Skål Ecotourism Awards programme. The deadline is 30 June.

Skål, founded as an international association in 1934 is the largest organisation of travel and tourism professionals in the world, embracing all sectors of the tourism industry from hoteliers to travel agents, to airlines, tourism media, tourism students and such. Skål with 22,000 members is active in 87 countries and in about 500 locations around the world.  In Malta the association has to clubs.

Skål International following the United Nations declaration of 2002 as the Year of Ecotourism and the Mountains, launched the Skål International Ecotourism Awards in the same year, to highlight and acknowledge best practices around the globe. Skål values sustainable development in tourism as the key to the industry's future success and considers ecotourism but one area of the various components of sustainable development.

More details and entry forms can be found at www.skal.org/html/ecotourism/I/eco.htm.

Art proves most popular with museum-goers

Valletta, 02/06/05 - Just over half of the 54 museums and historical sites on the Maltese islands are owned by the state. Another 14, or 25.9 per cent, are church-owned, while a further 12 are privately run. The largest portion of museums, 28.8 per cent, are theme-specific. These include religious, banking, toy and theatre museums, according to a National Statistics Office report.

A fifth, 20.3 per cent, of surveyed museums are classified as archaeological and historical, 18.6 per cent as art museums and 13.6 per cent as monuments and sites.

From 2002 to 2004, the number of individual paid admissions to museums increased by 419,515, or 73 per cent, to 996,851. This was mainly due to a substantial increase in the number of visits to art, archaeology and history museums.

The most popular places in 2004 were art museums (31.4 per cent), followed by archaeology and history museums (29.2 per cent), military museums (12.4 per cent) and monuments and sites (12.1 per cent). The least popular museums - with just one per cent of all visitors - were maritime museums.

Between 2003 and 2004, paid group admissions increased by 43 per cent. Paid admissions by individuals to museums in Gozo also increased over this period, from 69,485 in 2002 to 114,245 last year, an increase of 64.4 per cent.

The most popular places in Gozo were monuments and sites - these garnered 62.6 per cent of all individual paid admissions.

Between 2003 and 2004 the number of full-time staff employed by museums rose from 177 to 280, an increase of 58.2 per cent. The number of part-time staff also increased by 36.4 per cent. The number of voluntary staff showed an increase as well, from 106 in 2003 to 112 in 2004, an increase of 5.7 per cent. Female employment, which in 2004 accounted for 24.5 per cent of all employed staff, increased by 61.1 per cent, from 54 in 2003 to 87 in 2004.

Total museum expenditure in 2004 amounted to just over Lm2.65 million. Of this expenditure, salaries and wages represented 70 per cent, whilst 3.9 per cent went on capital expenditure and 5.5 per cent on maintenance and operational costs.

Total income in 2004 reached just over Lm2.4 million, the bulk of which -  64.1 per cent - was admission fees. Last year museums and historical sites registered a total deficit of a little more than Lm0.2 million.

Bellair Holidays launch winter brochure

Mosta, 02/06/05 - London-based Belleair Holidays has launched its new winter brochure for 2005/2006 including a new 'Lussu' category of luxury hotels, new weddings and honeymoons service and new and improved upgrades services with offerings such as business lounges and club class.

Overall brochure prices lead-in at £196 (Lm125) per person for three nights bed and breakfast accommodation at St George's Park Complex in St Julian's, plus return flights.

New to the brochure is a new 'Lussu' (a Maltese word meaning luxurious) category for hotels which stands out either for location, service but above all quality. 'Lussu' hotels include seven properties in Malta, Gozo and Sicily: the five star Hilton Malta, the four star Juliani, the five star Le Meridien Phoenicia, the Xara Palace; on Gozo, the five star Ta' Cenc and Kempinski San Lawrenz Resort and Spa and in Sicily the Villa Paradiso - a 19th Century villa.

Special spa packages are new to the brochure and available at a range of four and five star hotels including the Fortina Hotel and the Radisson SAS Golden Sands Resort and Spa.

For example, a one day spa package is priced from £39 (Lm25) per person and includes three treatments at the Riu Seabank Hotel; a three day package is priced from £119 (Lm76) per person to include nine treatments at the Barcelo Riviera Resort & Spa and five day packages are priced from £175 (Lm111) per person to include 13 treatments at the Radisson SAS Bay Point Resort.

Belleair Holidays has introduced a new weddings and honeymoons service from £259 (Lm165) and a new 'Renewal of Vows' service that is from £185 (Lm118). Both services can be tailor made to suit the requirements of the couple in order to make it 'more of their own' and can include private transfers on arrival and departure to the hotel, transport on the day to and from the church, small bouquet and buttonhole and sparkling wine.

A range of special offers and discounts are available, including 'three weeks for the price of two' and free car upgrades. Twin centre discounts for Malta and Gozo/Sicily combinations are available, with prices starting from £385 (Lm245) per person for Malta and Sicily seven night combinations and from £297 (Lm189) per person for Malta and Gozo seven night combinations.

Early savers discount for bookings by 15 September save up to £80 (Lm51) per couple. Long stay discounts are also available, with savings of up to £120 (Lm76) per person for stays at the Kempinski San Lawrenz. Winter stay away offers include great prices for 21 or 35 nights. Summer 2006 prices are available at summer 2005 prices, for all bookings made before Belleair's next summer 2006 brochure is published.