Malta losing tourism market share

Opposition spokesmen insisted yesterday that there should be better planning for the tourism sector and one should not be carried away by a slight increase in tourist arrivals this year because Malta was still losing market share.

Evarist Bartolo, opposition spokesman for tourism said during the budget debate on tourism and culture that it was good that tourist arrivals had increased this year, but the sector was still in a very difficult situation. As Deloitte had remarked in a report, the industry had been stagnant for five years. Tourism was growing worldwide but Malta's share of the market was continuing to drop.

Figures of the World Tourism Organisation showed that even destinations affected by unrest were performing better - the Middle East saw a 24 per cent growth, the US, 12 per cent, Tunisia and other North African countries, 49 per cent.

Worldwide tourism would show a growth of 70 million people this year, but Malta's growth was among the lowest.

Mr Bartolo said Malta needed to get its house in order before increasing its marketing. For a start, Malta needed to boost its competitiveness rather than taxation. It also needed to substantially improve its environment if it wanted a better quality of tourist. There was far too much pollution and littering. How would the proposed new landfill affect tourism?

Malta needed new attractions, but the government had run out of ideas, and the only new initiatives were aimed to benefit a select few.

The Deloitte report underlined the need for a national tourism plan, not least because the MTA plan had no proper targets and little input from the private sector, rendering it little better than a public relations exercise.

For a start, the government should shoulder its responsibilities, not hide behind the authority. The government and the private sector needed to work together on a plan and decide how Malta was to be branded.

The government, however, needed to shoulder its responsibilities because tourism was not about having five-star hotels but an equivalent environment.

It was not enough to say that arrivals should be raised by 50,000 per year as the government had said. The MTA had in the past set a three per cent growth target, yet tourist arrivals declined. Targets had to be accompanied by a strategy. How was this figure arrived at? From which sector would they be coming? When? How many would be coming because of culture? How many would go to Gozo?

Malta should also improve its services for those who came here to learn a language.

However, the government should tackle the abuses by Chinese language students who came here only to smuggle themselves to mainland Europe in boats which left Malta three times a week. That said, Malta needed to capitalise on its links with China for increased tourism from there.

Mr Bartolo noted that the Prime Minister was now to lead an inter-ministerial committee on tourism. Should the opposition applaud the government for now doing what it should have been doing for a long time?

The government had also boasted that it was now thinking about Heritage Malta. First it gave birth to it and it was now saying that it was feeding it. It was not letting it die. But this was not enough. Heritage Malta did not even have enough to pay its employees this year, let alone to look after the country's heritage.

Would the funds voted for Heritage Malta in the budget be enough? He did not think so.

What was in the budget for a better environment or for the development of blue flag beaches?

Mr Bartolo said fish farms were hindering diving tourism. It did not make sense to pollute the sea and destroy the beauty which would attract tourists.

He insisted that the funds of the Malta Tourism Authority should go for tourism and they had to be used effectively. One should see what results were being borne by the money that was being spent on marketing.

The opposition, Mr Bartolo said, did not agree that Air Malta was not part of the Tourism Ministry. Without Air Malta, Malta would not have a proper tourism industry. Foreign airlines only came to Malta as it suited them. What were the government's plans for Air Malta?

What was the government going to do regarding the air service to Gozo? Since this was stopped, holidays to Malta were cancelled. Gozo was an exceptional destination for weekend breaks yet it was continuing to lose out because of the decision to stop the service. This service, however, would never be viable so a subsidy was required and the government had to be willing to give it.

In the budget the government had also doubled the departure tax to Lm20. One had to see whether the additional Lm10 tax was in line with EU rules since it discriminated between Maltese and EU citizens. In the same context, one had to see whether Gozo Channel could have different tariffs for Gozitans and Maltese and whether there should be different museum fees for Maltese and tourists.

Joseph Cuschieri (MLP) said tourism was vital for the economy and for the employment of 40,000 workers. The budget speech mentioned the setting up of an inter-ministerial committee to focus on tourism. This was a positive development. Indeed, such a committee had existed under a Labour government, but it had to date been shelved by the PN government.

Mr Cuschieri said the Malta Tourism Authority was seeing its budget reduced by Lm500,000 but the government had said it would be given that amount as a bonus if it did well. This was contradictory. It was when things were going badly that the authority would need more funds. He was against the reduction in funding, but, more importantly, proper analysis was needed of where the money was going. True, such a process had been taken in hand at last, but what was the outcome so far?

The tourism sector needed a clear vision and targets. That so many hotels were closing meant many did not have confidence in the sector.

Mr Cuschieri said politicians should ensure that tourism, because of its importance, did not become a political football.

It was unfortunate, Mr Cuschieri said, that warnings about the cruise liner industry, such as the impact of value added tax, had not been heeded, and 107,000 fewer passengers arrived this year.

The Cirkewwa project and fish farms had harmed diving sites, he said. Everybody knew what had happened to the sand at St George's Bay. And the government was still dithering on the setting up of golf courses. Good work had been done at Paceville, but other tourist spots were still in a state of neglect.

Karmenu Vella (MLP) said that although arrivals increased by 2.4 per cent this year, bed nights had dropped by 370,000. The decline in tourism had been slowed but Malta was still far from the figures of five years ago. Since then Malta had lost 53,000 tourists and Lm5 million in earnings. Tourist expenditure per capita, inflation considered, had also dropped. In contrast, competing destinations were doing much better.

Mr Vella said government figures should give a breakdown of the tourism revenue streams. There was also need for a competitiveness index of the sector and an analysis of the profitability of each sector.

It was good that the government had set a growth target of 50,000 for next year, but given hotel capacity, such a figure was still too low. Still, what was important was not just numbers, but the need for a higher profile tourist.

Malta, Mr Vella said, still had a seasonality problem, and it was getting worse. Yet the only investment one spoke about was in the improvement of St George's Bay.

Focusing on the British market, Mr Vella asked why arrivals had dropped by 70,000 in the past nine months when tax charged on outgoing Britons to Malta had been waived, air services had increased and there was supposed to be more marketing.

As the opposition had predicted, the introduction of low fare flights had not meant more visitors, but the same tourists came here on cheaper flights. And they had not used their savings on better accommodation.

Furthermore, despite the promise of higher marketing, up to a few weeks ago, the MTA had not even spent Lm500,000 on marketing in the UK.

The rate of exchange of the Malta lira with the Sterling was also critical.

Carmelo Abela, opposition spokesman on education and culture, said a government promise made in 1992 for culture and sports to account for one per cent of the gross domestic product had still not been kept.

It did not make sense to talk about diffusion of culture and then close down Radju Bronja.

Referring to the national orchestra, he said it hurt to read that one of the reasons for the resignation of its head, Mario Tabone Vassallo had been the lack of adequate finance.

Mr Abela said carnival needed a fresh boost. Longstanding problems still needed to be solved. One of them was where float creators could work. What had happened to the idea of a Carnival Village?

The budget showed that even the allocation for St James Cavalier was down, and he had heard that it could not even pay for its use of water and electricity.

The cultural activities produced there were varied and good, but the government's grant was still essential for the centre to make ends meet.

The vote for the Council for Culture and the Arts was being decreased by Lm30,000. Why had it not yet been given the needed push to really move forward? The council still did not have enough funds to help culture-oriented organisations, yet the people needed to be better educated in culture, concluded Mr Abela.

Joe Brincat (MLP) insisted that culture needed to be diffused among all the people. Many European countries insisted on a percentage of European culture on television. In Malta the government should also insist that local television should include a higher percentage of local culture, bringing out Maltese characteristics.

Culture needed to be taken back down to the lowest element of society, where it often originated in the first place.

Tourists, too, wanted to see a stronger element of local culture when they visited because it was the local identity which made Malta a unique tourist destination.