Cap. 409 Art. 2Interpretation.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

"accommodation" means a room or rooms furnished and equipped to provide living accommodation to a person;

"advertisement" means the making of a representation in any form in connection with a trade or business in order to promote the supply of goods or services, including the making of any such representation, any word, letter, model, sign, placard, board, notice, brochure or device, whether illuminated or not, in the nature of and employed wholly or in part for the purposes of advertisement, announcement or direction, and any boarding or similar structure used or adapted for use for the display of advertisements; and "advertise" shall be construed accordingly; "agency of Government" means a body corporate established by law or a company in which the Government or such a body corporate, or a combination thereof, has a controlling interest or which is a subsidiary of such a company;

"appointed day", in relation to articles 50, 51 and 52 means the day on which the said articles will come into force;

"the Authority" means the Malta Tourism Authority established by article 3 and includes any person acting on its behalf under powers delegated by the Authority under this Act; "the Board" means the Tourism Appeals Board established under article 13; "catering establishment" means any building, premises or other establishment, including kiosks, howsoever described, purveying for reward food and, or, beverages including wines and spirits, for consumption;

"destination management company" means any person whose principal line of business, whether as principal or agent, is the creation, planning and operation of high level motivational and specialised programmes for tourists and other persons, whether singly or in groups, and which programmes include the provision of all or any of the following services: accommodation in a hotel or other suitable establishment; travel; conference facilities; excursions; guides; interpreters; technical support; entertainment and all other matters normally connected with motivational programmes, congresses, meetings and conference and incentive travel. The term ''destination management company'' does not include a hotel keeper, guest house keeper, keeper of holiday premises, a person who provides accommodation to tourists in a house, a tourist guide, a person who provides transport services by land, sea or air, an incoming tourism agent, a travel agent or an organised excursion operator; "financial year" means the period of twelve months ending on 31 December of any year: Provided that the first financial year of the Authority shall commence on the coming into force of this Act and end on the 31 December of the following year;

"guest" means a person who is provided with accommodation at a hotel, guest house, hostel, holiday premises, lodging house or house used for the provision of accommodation to tourists or who has such accommodation placed at his disposal in any such place; "guest house" means any building, howsoever described, but not being a hotel, in which accommodation, ancillary services and amenities are provided for the public by a common management; and "guest house keeper" shall be construed accordingly; "holiday premises" means any building, howsoever described, but not being a hotel, guest house, hostel or the ordinary residence of the owner or tenant thereof, as the case may be, in which accommodation, ancillary services, including self-catering services, and amenities are provided for tourists; and includes any number of such buildings which are grouped together; and "keeper of holiday premises" shall be construed accordingly;

"hostel" means any building, howsoever described, but not being a hotel or a guest house, in which accommodation, ancillary services and amenities of a basic standard are provided for the public by a common management; and "hostel keeper" shall be construed accordingly;

"hotel" means any building, howsoever described, in which accommodation, ancillary services and amenities are provided for the public by a common management and includes any number of such buildings which are grouped together; and "hotel keeper" shall be construed accordingly;

"house" means any building, howsoever described, not being a hotel, guest house, hostel, holiday premises or lodging house, used or intended to be used, whether wholly or in part, for habitation; "incoming tourism agent" means any person who, whether as principal or agent, arranges for, advises on or undertakes to provide to tourists and other persons, whether singly or in groups, travel arrangements in respect of incoming travel, including accommodation in a hotel, guest house, hostel, holiday premises or house used for the provision of accommodation to tourists; travel; organised excursions and all other matters normally or by custom connected with the tourism industry, but does not include a hotel keeper, guest house keeper, hostel keeper, keeper of holiday premises, a person who provides accommodation to tourists in a house, a tourist guide, a person who provides transport services, a travel agency, a destination management company or an organised "Member State" means a member state of the European Economic Area; "Minister" means the Minister responsible for tourism;

"operator", in relation to a tourism operation other than a tourist guide, means a person, other than an owner, who is entitled to operate it in his own right under a title derived directly or indirectly from an owner; "organised excursion" means any organised excursion or tour for five or more tourists or other persons to one or more places in or around Malta or transport but excludes any service intended solely to provide transport; and "organised excursion operator" shall be construed accordingly; "owner", in relation to a tourism operation other than a tourist guide, means a person who in his own right or as agent for another person is entitled to receive the rent in respect thereof where it is granted on lease or, where it is not let, would be so entitled if it were let: Provided that where the tourism operation is subject to usufruct the expression "owner" shall include the bare owner; "public officer" has the meaning assigned to it by article 124 of the Constitution; "requirement" means any obligation, prohibition, condition or limit provided for in the laws or regulations, or in the administrative provisions, or administrative practices of the Authority; "tourism operation" means a hotel, guest house, hostel, holiday premises, house used for the provision of accommodation to tourists, catering establishment, travel agency, destination management company, incoming tourist agency, organised excursion operator, tourist guide, and other tourism services, whether licensed or not: Provided that for the purposes of article 48(2), the term ''tourism operations'' shall not include a house used for the provision of accommodation to tourists when the house constitutes the permanent residence of the person who provides such accommodation; "tourist" means any person who is travelling to and staying in places outside his usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other personal purpose other than by taking up employment or to establish a business in the place visited; "tourist guide" means a person who guides visitors in the language of their choice and interprets the cultural and natural heritage of Malta and/or specific area or areas, and who possesses a specific relevant qualification and licence issued and/or recognised in respect of outgoing travel, including accommodation in a hotel, guest house, hostel, holiday premises or house used for the provision of accommodation to tourists; travel by air, land or sea; organised excursions and all other matters normally or by custom connected with the tourism industry; but does not include a hotel keeper, guest house keeper, keeper of holiday premises, a person who provides accommodation to tourists in a house, a tourist guide, a supplier of transport services, an incoming tourism agency, a destination management company or an organised excursion operator and "travel agency" shall be construed accordingly;

"travel package" means the pre-arranged combination of no fewer than two of the following when sold or offered for sale at an inclusive price and when the service covers a period of more than twenty-four hours or includes overnight accommodation:

(a) transport;

(b) accommodation;

(c) other tourist services not ancillary to transport or accommodation and accounting for a significant proportion of the package, and shall include such pre-arranged combinations even when various components thereof are billed separately; "traveller" means any person who contracts with a licensed toursim operation for the provision of any travel or travel related services of any and every kind by such licensed tourism operation.