Tourism 'could improve' in second quarter

A cruise liner which has decided to use Malta as its homeport will start operations in April instead of May because of the number of bookings by British and Scandinavian tourists, Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said yesterday.

Addressing a news conference on tourism prospects, the minister said the cruise liner, carrying more than 1,000 passengers.

Dr Zammit Dimech said that in the last quarter last year, Dietmer Gunz and other shareholders rebought the FTI (formerly Frosch Touristik) shares from Airtours.

Mr Gunz had confidence in the Maltese market and last December launched the company's summer brochures in Malta bringing over 770 travel agents from Germany and Austria.

At the beginning of the year, FTI informed him that Malta sales for the winter had improved.

Dr Zammit Dimech said that Wolfgang Beeser was last month reappointed chairman of the Thomas Cook management board. Mr Beeser was a friend of Malta and one of the few people who could change the situation at Thomas Cook.

The minister said that interest in Malta was being shown by low cost airlines including Snow-flake, which was considering operating scheduled trips from Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Speaking about the hotels facing closure, Dr Zammit Dimech said some of them were not doing badly but felt they would get more out of their property if they used it for other purposes.

There were also 10 hotels which were being rebuilt or which were being expanded including those that were replacing the Cavalieri Hotel, in St Julian's, and the Calypso Hotel, in Marsalforn.

The minister said Maltese tourism was intrinsically linked to the economic situation in Europe as 90 per cent of tourists in Malta came from European states.

Experts in the tourism sector were forecasting an increase of three per cent in tourism in Europe and an international increase of around eight per cent.

There were indications, the minister said, that the tourism sector in Malta would start catching up in the second quarter of the year.

Several big conferences were expected in Malta this year including those of Chanel and Pfizer, which would be bringing over some 1,000 delegates each.

The minister pointed out that although last year was a turbulent one for the sector internationally and locally, tourism in Malta dropped by 0.64 per cent while internationally it dropped by 1.7 per cent.

And although the number of visitors last year was lower by 7,213 over the previous year, figures for January to October showed an increase of 7.1 per cent in the number of nights tourists spent in Malta over the same period the previous year. They also spent 4.3 per cent more than the same period the previous year.

Malta Tourism Authority chairman John C. Grech said that since the MTA was set up in 1999 many changes had taken place in the tourism sector.

It became clear that Malta was no longer competitive in the basic sun and sea product as bigger countries which could take a bigger volume could offer more competitive rates.

Malta's general market, Dr Grech said, was shifting from one based on price to one based on special interest.

Dr Grech insisted that tourists were guests in Malta and for the tourism industry to survive they had to be treated well.

He read out some letters to show that this was not always the case.

The MTA, he pointed out, received over 500 complaints last year.

Many steps were taken against those found guilty including fines, court action and temporary closures. However, the MTA did not have a say on certain operators, such as bus drivers.