What the Malta Hotels & Restaurants Association said about hunting in 2007 and 2013
In March eight years ago, after violent incidents during a demonstration by hunters in Valletta, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association released this statement without being asked by the press.
The MHRA strongly condemns the incidents that took place in Valletta on Wednesday 7th March in the evening during the hunters’ demonstration.
Such incidents cause irreparable harm to Malta’s international image at a time when all stakeholders in the tourism industry are working hard to reverse the negative trends the industry suffered last year.
The MHRA takes this opportunity to reiterate its position that the local hunting practices harm the tourism industry and appeals to the relevant authorities to enforce the law at all times.
Friday,
March 09, 2007
Yesterday, the very same Malta Hotels & Restaurants Association released the following statement after being asked by the press for its reaction to the international press coverage following the referendum result.
Past experience has shown that although there was negative overseas press in terms of hunting in Malta the tourism numbers did not suffer. Indeed in the last five years every year has seen increases in arrival over the previous year’s figures.
Naturally as MHRA and as Maltese citizens we prefer to see positive pieces written about Malta as this encourages more people to visit Malta.
MHRA believes that Malta now has to show its maturity and that everyone has to respect the result of the referendum and most important respect the laws of the country. The Prime Minister has made it clear that there will be no tolerance to illegal hunting activities and that hunting violations could mean the early closure of the hunting season.
And this is a news story published in Times of Malta on 2 May 2013:
MHRA proposes conference on economic impact of hunting – FKNK notes German tourism growth
The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association is calling for a national conference to discuss the impact of hunting on the economy.
The announcement came hours after the hunters’ federation – FKNK – observed in a statement that tourism from Germany was up 13% in March despite warnings by the outgoing German ambassador that hunting would hurt tourism.
The MHRA said it was urging all tourism stakeholders, including non-governmental organisations, government and the Ornis committee to hold a national conference to discuss in the impact of hunting on the Maltese economy and way of life.
MHRA President Tony Zahra said: “MHRA has always been on the forefront to discuss issues that impact the tourism industry and we are always focused on finding solutions through discussion.
“Maltese law allows for hunting to be practised at certain times of the year and we fully respect this fact, however, as the association representing the tourism industry in Malta, with hundreds of millions of euros in investments and thousands of people in tourism related jobs, we must also take into consideration the economic implication that hunting might have on this industry.”
MHRA said that reality had to be faced and called for a pragmatic approach to be taken.
“It is clear that there is a challenge in addressing the economic issues raised by operators in the industry, and the issues raised by the hunting lobby group…
“Malta needs to be smart to ensure that everyone is a winner and that there are no losers,” Mr Zahra said.