Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/337883
25 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 29 JUNE 2014 airlines in the Maltese market and this led to a colossal debate between Air Malta and the MTA. Air Malta had a well tried business model that had functioned successfully for donkey's years. It subsidised the politicians by employing surplus labour and the tourist industry by f lying to a good 20% of its network to marginal airports, supporting itself with the profitable routes to London, Manchester and Frankfurt. The introduction of low cost airlines right in the middle of a tourism crisis remains an untold story. Low cost airlines, if properly introduced, could have dramatically reduced our dependence on the UK operators whose bullying tactics were obvious. The last thing to do was to trade the bullying of tour operators with that of low cost airlines. But the MTA - or better still the MHRA – panicked, and with an election looming on the horizon, the government gave in. The real issue was not the undermining of Air Malta, but the undermining of the lucrative scheduled air traffic business when this should have been an important factor in the future of our tourism industry. British Airways saw the writing on the wall and promptly left. It took 10 years for them to return. Malta ended up once again in the path of indirect - and not so indirect - subsidies: not only of tour operators, but also of low cost airlines and our own national airline. And the results achieved in the last years? We have been told about years on years of record breaking but the feeling on the ground is not that happy. I am told that the current tourism data is not strictly comparable to the past, which is a diplomatic way of saying it is not that accurate as in the past, when it was based on a real head count of disembarkation cards. Can someone explain why Bugibba, our second tourist resort, is a ghost town in winter with most hotels closed down, or how come Malta lost some 5,000 beds in hotels and tourist villages since 2003 while tourist numbers supposedly rose from 1 to 1.5 million? Why, as claimed by Robert Arrigo, the Opposition spokesman on tourism, the lower end hotels are contracting for next winter at €12 for half board? How come that during these last ' boom' years, hotels could not raise their prices to enable them to register profits and allow for refurbishment? This has happened in spite of a massive improvement in our heritage sites and tourist product since our entry into the EU. The MTA's budget was practically doubled over the last 10 years but it still runs a deficit. The volume of tourism rose from 11 million nights to 13 in the last 10 years but nobody knows how much of this number is generated by the 30,000 foreign residents who are now living in Malta. These are not tourists and they are contributing to a boom in the rental market rather than in the tourism industry. May we know how much of the MTA's budget is spent subsidising low cost airlines, Air Malta and events with dubious benefits to the tourism industry, such as Isle of MTV? The MHRA's call for a new vision for our tourism industry has to be heeded. It is definitely the time to give a good look at the role that the tourism industry has to play in the next years, while learning from past mistakes. Michael Falzon is a former Nationalist Miniser The real issue was not the undermining of Air Malta, but the undermining of the lucrative scheduled air traffic business when this should have been an important factor in the future of our tourism industry COURT NOTICE The Registrar, Civil Courts and Tribunals notifies that the First Hall of the Civil Court ordered the sale by judicial auction of the following property to be held in the corridors of the Courts of Justice, Republic Street, Valletta. Date, Time -Judicial Sale No Property 1 st July, 2014 11:30am - 72/2013 EGL The shop number six (6) in Zabbar Road, Paola, and underlying third parties property and is subject to an annual ground rent of eighty two cents for the remaining period of temporary annual ground rent approximately thirty-five (35) years with all its rights and appurtenances, valued at forty one thousand euro (€ 41,000). 1 st July, 2014 12:00pm - 77/2013 PP Apartment internally marked number three (3), on the second floor including overlaying air space forming part of Block of Apartments' named 'Anvil Apartments', numbered four (4), in Triq il- Minfaħ, Naxxar, free and unencumbered valued one hundred and ninety thousand Euros (€190,000) Included with the apartment there is the use of the common parts which include the outside stairs, outside door, entrance hall, the stairs to the roof, the lift and its shaft and water and drainage system. Six Garages under the block of apartments named 'Anvil Apartments', numbered four (4), in Triq il- Minfaħ, Naxxar internally marked; Garage number two (2) of approx 73.47 meters squared valued forty five thousand Euros (€ 45,000) Garage number three (3) of approx 13.71 meters squared valued twenty three thousand Euros (€ 23,000) Garage number four (4) of approx 13.80 meters squared valued twenty three thousand Euros (€ 23,000) Garage number five (5), of approx 11.78 meters squared valued twenty thousand Euros (€ 20,000) Garage number six (6) of approx 15.74 meters squared valued twenty five thousand Euros (€ 25,000) Garage number seven (7) of approx 44.43 meters squared valued forty thousand Euros (€ 40,000) 3 rd July, 2014 11:00am - 13/2013 PP Apartment, internally marked number 3, Victoria Apartment, number 88, Capuchin's Street, San Ġwann, on the second floor presently valued on the market, free and unencumbered, valued seventy-five thousand Euros (€75,000). Penthouse, with overlaying airspace, considered by the architect as a duplex unit, Victoria Apartment, number 88, Triq il-Kapuċċini, San Ġwann, free and unencumbered, valued eighty thousand Euros (€80,000). The property also includes one fourth undivided share of the common parts of the said block. 8 th July, 2014 11:30am - 28/2013 EM Garage numbered seventeen (17), Triq l-Inkwina, Santa Venera underlying property named 'Orchid Court' Triq il-Brunzar, Santa Venera, free and unencumbered valued at forty two thousand euro (€42,000) 10 th July, 2014 11:00am - 74/2013 EGL Ground floor maisonette, with own airspace, in Sqaq San Anard sive Sqaq San Leonardu unofficially marked with number five (5) letter 'A', subject to an annual and perpetual ground rent of four cents two mils (4c2), free and ununcembered with all its rights and valued one hundred and seventy five thousand and five hundred Euros (€ 175, 500). Ground floor maisonette, with own airspace, in Sqaq San Anard sive Sqaq San Leonardu unofficially marked with number five (5) letter 'B', subject to an annual and perpetual ground rent of four cents two mils (4c2), free and ununcembered with all its rights and valued one hundred and twenty nine thoudand Euros (€ 129,000). 10 th July, 2014 11:30am - 57/2013 PP Appartment internally numbered two (2), forming part of a Block named Orange Court in Triq Dun Franġisk Sciberras, Mellieħa, including an undivided share of the common parts of the block including door, entrance, stairs and stairwell, landings, water and drainage pipes, lift and shaft, free and ununcumbered valued one hundred and sixteen Euros and four hundred and sixty eight Euros.(€116,468) Penthouse and overlaying airspace and terraces internally marked number four (4), forming part of a Block named Orange Court in Triq Dun Franġisk Sciberras, Mellieħa, including an undivided share of the common parts of the block including door, entrance, stairs and stairwell, landings, water and drainage pipes, lift and shaft, free and ununcumbered valued one hundred and twenty eight thousand, one hundred and fifteen Euros (€128,115) Garage internally marked with number one (1), forming part of a Block named Orange Court in Triq Dun Franġisk Sciberras, Mellieħa, including an undivided share of the common parts of the garages which include ramp and drive in from which the garage is accessible; Garage internally marked with number two (2), forming part of a Block named Orange Court in Triq Dun Franġisk Sciberras, Mellieħa, including an undivided share of the common parts of the garages which include ramp and drive in from which the garage is accessible; Garage internally marked with number three (3), forming part of a Block named Orange Court in Triq Dun Franġisk Sciberras, Mellieħa, including an undivided share of the common parts of the garages which include ramp and drive in from which the garage is accessible; These garages are free and ununcumbered valued ninety three thousand one hundred and seventy five thousand Euros (€ 93,175). 10 th July, 2014 12:00pm - 48/2013 EM The tenement numbered ninety three (93), 'Nido D'Amour', in Triq Ġuże' D'Amato, Paola, without any ground rent valued at one hundred and fifty thousand euro (€150,000). Further details can be obtained from the website: http://www.justiceservices.gov.mt/courtservices/JudicialSales/search.aspx The bidders taking part in the auction must present their identity card. Rudolph Marmara' For the Registrar of Civil Courts and Tribunals