How a leading hotelier
has helped shape our country
words: Steve Flinders
How does someone go from primary school teacher to a businessman, entrepreneur
and manager who has a huge influence on one of the major business sectors in his
country? This is what we set out to discover on the eve of this year’s Mediterranean
Tourism Forum when we interviewed Winston V Zahra, Chairman of Island Hotels
Group plc.
W
inston
V. Zahra is standing outside the
five star Radisson Blu Resort in St
Julians smoking a cigar when we
arrive for our 9 a.m. appointment.
He is a spry, energetic-looking
75-year-old with a direct expression and a vigorous step. He says
“Buongiorno” to one of the receptionists as we cross the reception area to the lounge. Everyone
smiles as he goes past. He’s easy
to talk to from the start. He has a
twinkle – maybe even a tiny hint of
mischievousness - in his eye.
56
2015
We start with his background,
which for a good part of his life
is also the history of the Group,
although it took him well over
a decade to get into the sector
where he has spent most of his
career. “I left school at the age of
16 ½. At that time Malta was short
of teachers and so I went back to
school in the autumn as what was
called an Emergency Teacher and
worked for two years in a school
in Zejtun.” He did two years of
training at St Michaels Training
College and then worked for nine
years at Sliema Primary School
which he enjoyed, although sitting in the staffroom with much
older colleagues, he began to
realise that this was not what he
wanted to spend his whole life
doing. Meanwhile his brother
Tony had returned from the UK,
intent on starting a business: Alpine Rent-a-car has grown into
the Alpine Group which Tony
chairs, with a share capital of
more than €11million.
With 200 Maltese lira between
them at the outset, they built up
the car hire business before buying their first hotel, the Riza,
with a view to further vertical development. “We invested every
spare penny we had in another
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