Category: Articles

August is always a special month that everyone looks forward to. A month for sitting back, enjoying time with friends and family, and making up for the some tiring months during the rest of the year.

For the Chamber of SMEs, August was also a month for celebration with our CEO tying the knot. After over a year of intense work due to the pandemic, the Chamber’s staff and Council had a very welcome opportunity to celebrate this special occasion together.

We take this opportunity to wish you well for your respective summer breaks or well for your work if this is your season, and we look forward to an energised September!

The investment could include refurbishment of facilities, new equipment, new vehicles used for work, and also salary increases

Energy and Enterprise Minister Miriam Dalli together with Malta Enterprise CEO Kurt Farrugia announced that the MicroInvest scheme has been extended.

The MicroInvest scheme is applicable for the self-employed, micro enterprises and SMEs employing up to 50 people. Through this scheme, businesses are encouraged to invest in their businesses and part of the money invested would be converted into tax credits.

The investment by businesses could include refurbishment of facilities, new equipment, new vehicles used for work, and also salary increases.

The new extension tackles the issue of low sales figures which meant that some businesses couldn’t benefit from the tax credit. Businesses will now have three more years to use their MicroInvest tax credit certificates.

There are 7,000 self-employed and small businesses that are eligible to apply for this scheme. So far since January 2019, €84 million has been provided to businesses through this scheme.”

Businesses who can apply for the scheme have to fall under a specific category according to their Planning Authority permit.

Other categories are there for retail, financial, food and drink establishments, offices and all industry premises.

 A business that buys an internal combustion engine could benefit from a tax certificate amounting to a maximum of 30% of the value of the vehicle.

Buying a plug in hybrid or an electric vehicle for your business would entitle the business for a minimum of 45% tax certificate on the value of the vehicle.

From August 30, the number of every cluster can increase to 500 people for seated events

New regulations for events have been announced while vaccinated people may spend less time in quarantine if in contact with a COVID-19 patient.

From August 16, all those who are fully vaccinated need to spend seven days in quarantine instead of 14, Health Minister Chris Fearne told a news conference on Thursday. The quarantine period will end once a negative test is presented.

From August 16, the number of clusters of people at all seated events can increase from 200 to 300. All those attending have to be vaccinated. From August 30, the number of every cluster can increase to 500 people. It is not clear whether the new rules apply to weddings.

Standing events will remain barred.

Fearne said that pregnant women who are in their second and third trimester (13 weeks onwards) are now encouraged to take the vaccine unless told otherwise by their doctor.

This is a marked shift from the previous policy where pregnant women were told not to take the vaccine.

Deadline for both schemes is the 13th August

Malta Enterprise have extended the deadline for the one-time grant and the rent refund scheme. Registrations will be accepted until the 13th of August 2021.

The one-time grant, is a scheme where a cash grant of €1,000 is given to those businesses which remained closed after 10 May 2021 as per Legal Notices issued by the Health Authority and are in receipt of the Wage Supplement.
An email was sent out to potential eligible businesses containing a link to a simple application process.
Malta Enterprise will simply process the grant in due course with funds being sent directly to the business’ bank accounts.

The rent refund scheme, is eligible for businesses which had to close their operations as a result of government legal notices in March 2021. The businesses are eligible for a refund in the form of a top-up of 50% on the amount received last year.

New applicants who were closed in March and April 2020, and benefited from the wage supplement are eligible for the Rent Refund scheme in accordance with the following cappings:

• If a business has 1 to 9 employees receiving the wage supplement, there is one eligible rental agreement with a maximum support of €1,250;
• If a business has 10 to 19 employees receiving wage supplement, there are two eligible rental agreements with a maximum support of €2,000;
• If a business has 20 to 29 employees receiving wage supplement, there are three eligible rental agreements with a maximum support of €2,750;
• If a business has 30 to 39 employees receiving wage supplement, there are four eligible rental agreements with a maximum support of €3,500;
• If a business has 40 and over employees receiving wage supplement, there are five eligible rental agreements with a maximum support of €3,750.

In terms of the application process, businesses which received a rent refund for 2020 and whose rent contract is still valid (not expired or updated) will not need to resubmit copies of their contract.

Meanwhile, businesses which only received a wage supplement during March and April 2021 will be invited to apply for the Rent Refund Scheme covering rent costs incurred in 2021.

If eligible, businesses are encouraged to applies by the 13th of August 2021.

While the companies that were affected the most by the Covid-pandemic will continue to receive the full Covid-19 wage supplement, businesses in other categories will lose up to two-thirds of the amount they receive from the government.

A new tapering system was announced that shall be utilized for the disbursement of the Wage Supplement Scheme from August to December 2021.

Worst-hit companies with an impact of 55% or more (2019 – 2020) – will continue to receive the wage supplement in full until the end of year. Therefore, they will experience no change.

Tapering for the other categories will take place in 2 phases as explained in the table. Same principle applies for Part-Time employees.

Beneficiaries presently receiving €600 monthly per employee will be tapered down to €420 in Phase 1 and €210 in Phase 2.

Decisions taken in the EU are one of the main causes

Global travel demand is creeping back into the limelight, even if most people are still only considering familiar destinations closer to home.

In these turbulent times, demand fluctuates from day to day based on everchanging travel restrictions. However, only 1 in 5 consumers plan to travel internationally in the next 12 months, clearly emphasizing the persistent impacts of COVID-19 decimating the industry.

Industry recovery is solely dependent on travel restrictions worldwide. Increasing emergence of variants of concern has slowed recovery even further. However, health concerns are on the decreasing trend, as vaccine rollouts coinciding with herd immunity are major players involved.

While some factors are inconsistent, travel restrictions have widely remained steadfast in preventing a quick recovery, with around one third of people blaming restrictions for lack of travel.

Safety of travel has been proven to correlate with how each country has managed the pandemic, with facets like cleanliness standards, traveling by airplanes etc. being less of a worry for countries with low infection/mortality rates.

However, 1 in 5 consumers planned an international vacation last May, revealing the underlying urge to travel abroad. The most popular type is multi-centre vacations e.g. cruises. COVID-19 testing is also a major issue, partly down to cost while also attributed with inconvenience, and the fact that each country has different restrictions makes travelling complicated, and less care-free. There is a great lack of consistency and clarity e.g. vaccine certificates, and how some countries are ahead of others; with the US notably behind on vaccine certificates.

Latest polling has shown broad support for vaccine passports, particularly in Asian countries, therefore further proving how a vaccine standard could encourage fast recovery. Despite the slower predicted recovery of leisure travel, ‘workations’ are becoming increasingly popular, resulting in a spike of flexible-date searches on Airbnb.

Business travel is much more controversial, as many corporates are predicting different outcomes, however the Middle East is a clear strong-point with the strongest demand.

In terms of markets, Europe is the only market in which travel restrictions are a greater obstacle to travel than health risks, possibly attributed to the spike of infections in early 2021 and revealing the urge of the market to recover. Research has shown people in countries with more advanced vaccine rollouts believe the situation is better globally, and are more keen to travel, particularly in the UAE.

The lack of unilateral decisions taken in the EU is also a barrier.

France has seen consistent levels of travel over time, with stable intent to travel internationally seen in how one in three consumers were looking to enjoy a vacation abroad, but most focus on domestic. Germany contains ever-increasing numbers of those seeking to travel overseas, with the outbound travel higher than their EU neighbors, however these upticks are in leisure travel only, with business travel notably stagnant. Restrictions in the UK are out of step with ones of the EU, and ever-changing volatile traffic light system has put off brits from travelling overseas, a large barrier to international travel in the UK, with most people fearing quarantine, due to their current reputation of changing countries’ status from one day to the next. Furthermore, in the US numbers of Americans planning to travel internationally are at the highest levels in months, with travel restrictions being less of a limitation for them. 

Data has also suggested that demand will mostly come from Millennials age group during the next 12 months, as they make up over half of those planning a holiday abroad. Older generations have shown stagnant or even decreasing demand despite being more likely to be inoculated, possibly as they want more reassurance.

 Travelers intending on taking three or more trips in the next year have shown to be much more likely to travel on an international holiday or for business; a clear segment for travel companies to target. This segment of people is most likely to be Americans, and least likely to be Australians.

Article by Julian Gatt – Summer intern at the Malta Chamber of SMEs

Source: https://business.yougov.com/sectors/travel-tourism

Earlier this month Maltese business owners were left surprised and dismayed after it was revealed that the UK had left the island out of its safe-to-travel green list, however a few weeks later Malta actually made it to the UK’s green list and Malta’s accomodation sector reported up to 70% accupancy throughout summer.

UK represented 33% of all tourists arrivals in Malta in 2019 and being on the UK’s green list meant a lot.

Locally, the travel and tourism sector contributed €2.03 billion to GDP in 2019, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), accounting for approximately 17 per cent of GDP.

Following the restaurants and snack-bars, bars also re-opened and while business recovered, the hospitality industry is experiencing an understaffing crisis.

COVID-19 measures are leaving some with no other choice but to have to employ more staff.

Restaurants, hotels and bars which previously relied on self-service are having to recruit more people due to the switch to table service, and some establishments are having to employ more security personnel to manage queues, he explained.

Speaking to local media, Malta Chamber of SMEs Deputy President said that “while these restrictions aren’t new, we are really starting to feel the pinch now because tourism has opened again in a scenario where many have been forced to operate with limited staff.”

He pointed out that the chamber as well as other stakeholders were in constant discussions with the authorities to amend certain restrictions in such a way as to support business owners without putting people at risk.

One of the proposals has been to replace the ban on self-service with a protective shade of Perspex along the counter as well as floor markings for crowd control. This alone would alleviate a lot of pressure, especially from hotels and bars which depend on self-service. While Fenech said it was important to open up in a slow and cautious manner, he urged the authorities not to be conservative unless really needed.

“The economic consequences and the collateral damage as a result of some of these restrictions really needs to be taken into consideration,” he said.