Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1238637
23.04.2020 7 EDITORIAL BusinessToday is published every Thursday. The newspaper is a MediaToday publication and is distributed to all leading stationers, business and financial institutions and banks. MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EDITOR: PAUL COCKS CONTRIBUTING JOURNALIST: MASSIMO COSTA BusinessToday, MediaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN9016, Malta Newsroom email: bt@mediatoday.com.mt Advertising: afarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt Telephone: 00356 21 382741 G overnment has not laid out its plan yet to start liing the restrictions imposed as part of the effort to keep the coronavirus under control. Sister newspaper MaltaToday on Wednesday reported that monitoring of the spread will continue for the next 10 days before a decision on how to proceed will be taken. In Parliament, Health Minister Chris Fearne said lifting of restrictions will be done gradually and warned that dis- cipline must still be maintained to ensure that COVID-19 remains in check. is is a very cautious approach, which has to be dictat- ed by health considerations above anything else. Some European countries have started lifting restric- tions, albeit cautiously and very gradually. Others have given an indication of when they intend to initiate the process. We understand that any decision to start lifting restric- tions will not mean an immediate return to normality – indeed, even WHO warns that it can never be a return to normal but to "a new normal" that will continue being dictated by health considerations to keep the coronavirus under control. It is this new normal that will necessitate some out- of-the-box thinking to get the country prepared for a post-COVID economic recovery. e recovery will not be the same for every sector of the economy. It will be slow, out of synch and can be painful with some businesses closing shop. Tourism will definitely be one of the last to pick up be- cause it depends primarily on what happens in our source markets. But there is work that could be done in the interim pe- riod, which can come in useful when the wheel starts to turn again. At a very basic level, the key tourist hotspots should be given a major spruce up that also includes infrastructural works to upgrade services, roads and public infrastruc- ture. With very little traffic and few people out on the streets, this is the time to tackle long-standing problems in locali- ties like St Paul's Bay, Paceville and St Julian's. Now is the time to do up the roads, upgrade pavements, revamp public conveniences, invest in better road signage, paint public benches, do up playing fields, create public water fountains, invest in more greenery, upgrade elec- tricity cables and change sewer and water pipes. It would help to advance some of the works planned for the next years to benefit from the idleness brought about by the coronavirus. But the government will also have to draw up a plan to offer airlines market support for when borders start to open. e airline industry has been decimated and while some companies have gone bust, others will return to the field with reduced flight schedules, fewer planes and a cautious approach to growth. In these circumstances, Malta must be on the frontline offering incentives to attract tourist traffic by aggressive- ly supporting airlines, the same way it did when low cost travel started being a reality in the early 2000s. e coun- try will have to fight for its patch. However, businesses will also have to re-dimension their offerings. Hotels that invested to increase their capacity over recent years may have to contend with keeping entire floors shut down as they start from scratch. e recovery will not be easy. But preparing for it is im- portant. Domestic tourism will be the first to kick off, albeit in a very slow manner. is will help some businesses in the tourism sector to start turning their wheels, although it is very likely that social distancing restrictions will change the state of play. is may be the time for operators to get together and plan joint packages, along with councils to attract Maltese patrons to their locality when restrictions start to be lifted. e uncertainty brought about by an invisible enemy that will remain a public health threat until a vaccine is found, may not be conducive to long-term planning. But having a bounce-back strategy will be key when the recov- ery starts. A bounce-back strategy for the post-COVID reality