In the dark

There is growing concern within some tourism circles on the island that visiting tourists this summer know little about the tourist tax. In fact, millions of tourists are believed to be in the dark and they will get the shock of their lives when they find that they have a nice bill from the ministry for tourism. You can imagine the scenes at some reception desks. The tourist tax could be described as a “stealth” tax as it has been approved with few problems, and now it will be introduced on 1 July. But those who will have to pay it are largely uninformed. Only now is the ministry for tourism informing the European tourism industry. Tourist taxes are nothing new - in fact Malta is planning to introduce one this summer - so some tourists will not be too shocked. But others could hit the roof. The ministry for tourism needs to launch an information campaign across Europe at once because otherwise they risk having major problems this summer.