Malta failing to deliver what it promised - MTA chairman

A study by Nottingham University has shown that an increase of one per cent in tourism prices in Malta could lead to a decrease of three per cent in tourism, the Malta Tourism Authority's chief executive officer, Leslie Vella, said yesterday.

Speaking at the MTA's annual conference, which this year had the theme Meeting New Challenges In International Tourism, Mr Vella said that during the past two years tourism in Malta suffered from a combination of factors ranging from a weak global economy to the fear of travelling generated by the Sars epidemic.

The tourism industry saw a decline and a shift towards destinations "nearer to home" and it was important for Malta to strive to maintain its market share of tourists from Europe and that tourists be treated to the best of experiences to encourage them to return and to speak highly of Malta as a holiday destination.

MTA chairman John C. Grech said there existed a mis-match between what was being promised and what tourists found when they came to Malta. "In many instances, we are failing to deliver what we promise," he said.

Dr Grech said Malta had to redefine what it had to offer through "product clusters" and MTA had identified 13 clusters where there was a potential for further development.

The clusters are: marine (yachting, diving, maritime heritage); films (film services and production); music, theatre and the arts; language and education; business and communications; history, culture, religion, and architecture; sports and wellness; food and wine; hobby holidays and NGO networking; folklore and people; leisure and fun; cruise liner business and nature, the environment and eco-tourism.

Dr Grech said Malta was not yet in a position to offer the nature cluster as the environment was not well taken care of. The other aspects could be tackled and one had to take a fresh look and start trying to get people to Malta for new reasons, such as cooking holidays.

There was also the need for more "fun" places such as theme parks and other investments that can make Malta a "fun" destination, Dr Grech said.

The tourist industry should compete by offering a quality product, not just by slashing prices, Dr Grech said.

Guest speaker Rolf Freitag, president of the German tourism consultancy group IPK International, said it was predicted that the decline in tourism around the globe would this year amount to 1.7 per cent. Economic uncertainty created by terrorism and the Sars virus were mostly to blame. But people were also demanding better quality at lower prices. To illustrate the point, Mr Freitag said countries had to see whether they should be investing in marble at the airports or whether they should be providing tents where the same service could be given at lower prices.

Their surveys showed that Malta had a problem with its high prices, being 30 per cent more expensive when compared with other competing Mediterranean destinations. Part of this could be attributed to the fact that more tourists stayed in four and five star hotels in Malta while they tended to stay at three star hotels in other destinations.

Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said that between 2000 and 2002, Malta lost 62,000 tourists from the German market after another loss of 8,000 in 1999.

This year too started on a bad note since in the first quarter tourism showed a decrease in arrivals of 5,689. It started picking up in April and by July there was an overall increase of 2.9 per cent over the same period last year.

Dr Zammit Dimech said projections for the tourism sector in 2004 offered hope for a slight improvement on the 2003 volume performance. Brighter economic prospects in the United States, Europe, Japan and from the emerging economies, Malta's accession to the European Union and tourism-friendly initiatives in the 2004 budget should all contribute, he said.

The minister said that more niche markets should be targeted in an effort to go for further specialisation.