Giving tourism best political massage

Michael Refalo had become such a fixture in the tourism sector it is not easy to get accustomed to his forced absence, and the accumulated experience that goes off with it. Capricious politics has thrown aside various sitting ministers from both major parties in recent years. That is one rough way that change cuts through the situation, even when there is no change of government. As always happens when a new minister takes over the tourism industry will be wondering what Francis Zammit Dimech will bring along with him.

That is not a query regarding whether he will be able to apply himself to his changed role. He can master a brief as well as the next person of Cabinet timbre. The questions to be answered will lie in three other main areas. The first and obvious one is, with the new minister's portfolio containing more than tourism will he apply the sharp focus that this key sector requires? Presumably the prime minister left coordination of urban development projects under Dr Zammit Dimech's responsibility to ensure continuity. That, surely, is the last consideration a premier who moves from one administration into the next can take into account in forming a new Cabinet.

Otherwise he would be obliged to reappoint all of those previous ministers available to him. To suggest that the projects in question are related to tourism, anyhow, begs the question why the PM did not allocate them to Dr Refalo when he was in charge.

The second query is what sort of policy review will the new man implement. The most common banana skin in the path of a new minister taking over from a party colleague is to hold back from extensive changes because they might be interpreted as criticism of the previous minister.

Ministers have to review policy constantly, so that they can revise as they go along. New arrivals should set about revising without delay. They have the advantage of not being 'factory blind', of having a fresh perspective. They can take on board new ideas from resources not already mobilised within or by their new ministry. The Malta Tourism Authority has been very active and has restructured only recently. Yet there always remains a need to step back and take a long critical look, particularly at evolving and anticipated trends and at what the competition is doing. A new minister starts off from a very good vantage point in that regard.

The third question relates to Air Malta. Once again the prime minister has chosen not to include Air Malta within the tourism portfolio. The national carrier is a commercial enterprise, operating in extremely tough market conditions, even discounting the special factors that arose so terribly after the September 11 terror, and tensions and war in the Middle East. It has to be in a position to take decisions that make commercial sense if it is to keep its head above the water, something which much bigger and reputedly stronger airlines are failing to do. Still it remains essential that there is a strong degree of policy coordination between the tourism authorities and Air Malta, though the airline has consistently demonstrated that it does give a high rating to tourism priorities.

Any minister has to operate the portfolio placed under his trust as the prime minister constructed it. In doing so a new minister brings to bear his own style and personality. At this juncture of our political and economic life there should be more than that. It would be helpful to the tourism industry in particular and the economy in general if government and opposition tacitly agree that tourism offers an area where they can cooperate without either of them losing its identity or function. Though at times it flagged without apparent good reason, there was considerable cooperation in the past. There should be more in the future.

To personalise such cooperation, I do not know what role will be given in the shadow cabinet to the former Labour minister of tourism, Karmenu Vella. Whether or not he is reappointed to shadow tourism, Minister Zammit Dimech would do well to seek his involvement to the fullest extent that this can be possible within the political divide. Mr Vella is acknowledged by one and all as having been a national success story when he held the tourism portfolio. Since then his standing in the sector has grown massively. He is an asset Malta cannot afford not to utilise for national benefit, simply because he once more happens to be sitting on the opposition benches.