Cruise liner tourism expected to rebound

Viset plc, the operators of the Valletta Waterfront cruise liner terminal, are upbeat about the future of cruise tourism, denying what they said were "rumours" that the number of passengers will continue to decline next year.

In the first seven months of this year, the number of cruise liner passengers declined by 37 per cent over the same period last year, from 180,000 to 114,000.

The Labour opposition has charged the government with doing nothing to improve the situation, saying cruise tourism is "collapsing".

But Chris Falzon, Viset's chief executive officer, sounded an optimistic note: "According to our bookings, there are clear and positive indications that the number of cruise passengers will pick up next year, partly because cruise passengers will be visiting Malta all year round, instead of only in or around the summer months. Viset is in fact envisaging that next year it will reach 2003 levels, when we had 380,676 passengers".

Another incorrect "rumour", Viset said, was that it was planning to raise the tariff paid by visiting tourists from Lm2 to Lm3, so as to increase its revenue. Mr Falzon said there were no such plans whatsoever.

A third "rumour" was that Viset wanted to compete directly with central Valletta shops, it said. "At Viset, it is our belief that shops in Valletta should ideally remain open during afternoon hours and, if possible, extend their opening hours as well. We want tourists to visit a lively not a dead city.

"A lively Valletta will definitely increase the chances that it would make the visitor want to come back to Malta for a longer stay. And as a result everyone would benefit from this cycle," Mr Falzon said.