You can download the full magazine in high-quality PDF format here.
The forecasters were right: people would jump at their first chance to travel.
After being cooped up for the last 15 months, the first opportunity to get on a
plane and get some sun or just be anywhere but stuck at home has become a
priority for many in the last month. Once the temporary confusion about which
COVID tests were required and the differences between red, amber and green
destinations had been digested, tickets were booked and planes were filled.
It has been great to see the first trickle of visitors come back to Gibraltar and
they have been most welcome. The first to notice were the hotels whose online
booking systems came back to life over a few days one weekend in April. In the
space of a few hours, thousands of room nights were booked for the months
ahead. This was the first tangible sign that Gibraltar’s economy would have a
busy summer after the long COVID-induced winter.
Shops, bars and restaurants whose businesses have survived the last year
by relying almost entirely on support from local customers have been busy
restocking, recruiting and training additional staff to prepare for the busy
tourist season ahead.
We must all do our bit to ensure that every visitor receives a warm welcome,
whether they are here for a short stay, a day trip or even just for a bit of shopping.
Tourists have thousands of options on where they can go on holiday. What
brings them back to the same place time and again is the whole experience
they receive when they are there. We want visitors to come back again (and
again), and we also want them to tell their families and friends to come and
visit.
As a destination Gibraltar has a uniqueness which millions of people have
been fortunate enough to experience over the years. The great collective effort
we have all shown, coupled with the sense of community and consideration
which has come to the fore during the months of lockdown should now be
diverted towards welcoming all visitors to the Rock. We have missed them and
we need them so that our businesses can rebuild our economy.
Gibraltar is fortunate in having had such social cohesion during the pandemic
and the Government has been receptive and decisive in supporting local
businesses when it was needed most. Thankfully the need for that assistance
is largely over as many businesses hope to resume trading levels at or close to
their 2019 levels. Nevertheless, the Chamber has requested the Government to
continue some measured support for a further month. Some assistance may be
needed after that for certain sectors but this needs to be assessed on a monthly
basis.
Now that the health pandemic is over, the Government needs to make good on
its pledge to generate efficiencies and cost-savings brought about by rolling out
proper e-Government. The pandemic forced many private sector businesses to
adopt smarter and more efficient ways of working to deal with sharp falls in
revenues while still being able to serve their clients. It is not unreasonable that
the Government, like many elsewhere, does the same. The cost of not doing so
is simply unaffordable.