Karmenu Vella: “Government policy? What for? Everything is fine.”
Oh look, it’s our tourism minister, well oiled and wearing a budgy smuggler, in his ‘let’s go shopping to Sicily’ days.
Karmenu Vella, the incoming tourism minister, has said that he won’t bother with new tourism policies because the ones the Nationalists left behind are doing just fine.
So much for the hallowed change of direction.
And will my colleagues in the press please do as I am doing and keep an eye on Hotel San Antonio plc – Tony Zahra’s company – to find out when the finance minister divests himself of his directorship there, if he ever does?
It’s all rather cosy, isn’t it.
While we’re about it, why has nobody asked the tourism minister himself whether he has let go of his chairmanship and financial involvement in one of Malta’s biggest cruise-handling agencies, Orange Travel?
timesofmalta.com reports:
Tourism policy will not “reinvent the wheel” – Vella
Tourism minister calls for continuity as MHRA reiterates calls for VAT reduction
Tourism stakeholders should not expect any great policy shake-ups with the Government eager to facilitate rather than impose, Tourism Minister Karmenu Vella said this morning.
Mr Vella told members of the Malta Hotel and Restaurant Association council that with many good policy plans already in place and tourist numbers healthy, there was “no need to reinvent the wheel”.
“Positive arrival numbers mean that we can dedicate more time to improving our tourism product,” the minister said, adding that accessibility had become “practically more important than marketing” within the sector.
MHRA president Tony Zahra highlighted three key requests stakeholders were pushing for: more arrivals during shoulder and winter months, reduced utility rates and reverting to a five per cent VAT rate for hotels. VAT was raised to seven per cent in 2010.
Mr Vella assured MHRA members that he would not be unilaterally imposing measures on stakeholders.
“We want the Government to act as a facilitator – those of you who have invested millions in this sector, and they are all Maltese, are unlikely to give bad advice,” he said.
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And who are the others on the photo (apart from Mintoff), if I may ask?
[Daphne – One was a beach boy called Silvio and the other is Carlo Seychell, who was married to fake switcher Marlene Seychell, last seen giving a testimonial in Labour’s igloo.]
“ – those of you who have invested millions in this sector, and they are all Maltese, are unlikely to give bad advice,”
Fancy being an investor interested in setting up an innovative operation in Malta, introduce a mould breaking product.
The minister will have to see whether the local lobby approves first. Perhaps refer you to some parrinu in the business, I don’t think so.
How to scare off investment. Vested interests, conflict of interest, it’s the modus operandi Daphne, the ministers in question, belong to us.
Meantime competition and its effects go elsewhere.
Karmenu Vella is not fit for office. Quite why so few could see that before is beyond me. That they can’t see it now makes me despair.
Given the time taken to write Labour’s manifesto, can you expect any better? It’s too big a task to think of anything to change.
so much testosterone! I remember reading somewhere that a tadpole exposed to the urine of a pregnant woman would change into a female. Imagine what a cupful of sweaty potbelly sleazeball and thug pee would get you . . . a toad with chest hair at least!
“those of you who have invested millions in this sector, and they are all Maltese, are unlikely to give bad advice,” he said.”
It may not be bad advice but hoteliers will always be looking after their pocket and not necessarily what’s good for the country. And don’t take any notice of ‘ a lot of families and workers depend on us for their livelihood’.
Profit on the millions invested, and a lot of it, is all they’re after.
The government’s role is there to keep a balance between their requests and the stability of that particular market. I hope Karmenu Vella didn’t make extraordinary promises to get their vote.
Exactly, he’ll destabilise the investment potential if he thinks the market belongs to these alone.
It will be five years of rephrasing this and that, and no maybe we meant something else.
It’s what happens when a party decides to become a platform for all the contrasting interests.
Karmenu Vella is a stakeholder in the tourism market, and not because he’s a tourism minister.
He’s in bed with tourism operators.
Not only Hotel San Antonio p.l.c but also… Cottonera Waterfront Group p.l.c and two (2) HSBC collective investment schemes (SICAV p.l.c)… with an odd dash of private limited liability companies
http://www.scribd.com/doc/132269572/Edward-Scicluna-s-company-Involvements-MFSA-listing
Looks like John Attard Montalto
I must entreat you not to post more of these Labour beach photos. Especially not accompanied by adjectives such as “oiled”. I think most of us hope to live long, happy lives, die in our own beds, and not have to see pictures of Mintoff at the beach in his budgie-packer.
What a load of rubbish. This guy has been sitting on his ass for the last 25 years and that’s it?
Mind you Mario De Marco must be happy with the blessing!
Very good press indeed!
You scratch my back, I scratch yours?
Homo-eroticism at its most potent – no wonder they legalised buggery.
Just heard Joseph Muscat on One praising Dom Mintoff and how he brought in certain civil rights, and promoted equality.
Yeah, he made all holes equal.
Orange Travel. Isn’t that Sam Mifsud’s business? If so, then one wonders why he tried to make his presence felt during the PN mass meeting in Dingli Street this month, trying to force his way through the crowds accompanying his wife and young children. Maybe to prove the point that having the Labour tourism minister as his chairman means nothing really, ghax Malta Taghna Lkoll, tafux.
Yes… how about Mr. Karmenu Vella having a directorship in “Orange Travel Group Limited” and… in group companies of a licensed gaming company ?
From a distance I thought it was a photo of shaven Bee Gees.
No worries for Karmenu and his fellow blood suckers. A revamped code of ethics will ensure that they may spread their tentacles unchecked. The Octupus clan!
As if ethics can ever be revamped, but it’s just an operating system with these individuals.
Karmenu got his knickers in a twist when his tunny net debacle was mentioned, adamant there was no blemish on his criminal record.
So there.