Heritage sites expected to net another Lm500,000

Heritage Malta has just completed a revamp of the Domus Romana in Rabat. But how will it raise enough funds to preserve the national heritage spread right across the country? George Cini asks agency chairman Mario Tabone what is being done to deal with this Herculean task.

Does the government cream off the income Heritage Malta generates from admission fees?
This was the way 18 months ago. But now Heritage Malta retains this income to re-invest it in the preservation of heritage. This year we expect to net about Lm900,000 from this source.

Fees are based on a site's importance, how much money was spent to revamp it and how much it costs to maintain.

A case in point is the Hypogeum, which involves enormous expense to maintain. Until recently, the entrance fee to a museum was a mere 50c.

Having said that, people seem to have the impression that admission fees have become prohibitive.
When I was appointed chairman in July 2003, I became even more aware that unless one raised awareness and intensified investment, heritage would verge close to a catastrophe.

All the sites but for one were extremely below standard. Any revamping would have to be done on the same level of excellence as has been done at the Domus Romana. There is an enormous difference in the level of awareness compared to 2002.

How tangible is this level of awareness?
It is tangible in the sense that people are asking, writing and expressing themselves more about heritage. Previously, heritage stood at the periphery of the country's vision. Heritage Malta has managed to raise awareness to a national level.

Am I to understand that the sun of awareness rose when you took over as chairman of Heritage Malta?
No, that is not the case but the national heritage was not high on the list of priorities on a national scale.

The Prime Minister recently publicly stated, however, that the government is committed to reinforce Heritage Malta because the national patrimony is a major economic factor.

Malta cannot compete in the tourist sector with countries that have a larger land mass and more natural attractions. Malta, however, has an edge as regards cultural tourism because our heritage is extremely rich and concentrated over such a small area.

I do not for a moment doubt the statement by the Prime Minister. But is the government putting its money where its mouth is?
It was important for us that the Prime Minister came out and stated that patrimony was at the top rung of the national agenda.

In the last budget, the government increased its subvention to Heritage Malta. Additionally, it gave additional financial assistance to a project that is being planned for Ggantija.

The fact that Heritage Malta is run as a commercial firm and not as a government department has given this agency much more elbow room and manoeuvrability to do business with the private sector in order to generate more funds.

Heritage Malta has also managed to secure a sum of about €5 million from the EU for the rehabilitation of Hagar Qim. Apart from this we have set up a patrons programme and we pushed the government to grant fiscal concessions to those who make donations to Heritage Malta and this has been sanctioned by Parliament.

The other side of the coin to what Heritage Malta nets is how much money the agency forks out. Are your top executives being paid exorbitant salaries?
Our books are balanced on a tight rope. The salary bill is about Lm1.7 million. The salaries at Heritage Malta are very moderate compared to those in other government agencies.

The top management posts and curators merit more than they are being paid. As for the rest of the team - Heritage Malta has a staff complement of about 250 - a collective agreement was signed last year with the cooperation of the unions.

Although the salaries do take up a large chunk of our finances, we have managed to put together a team of curators and managers that have justified the rhythm that Heritage Malta had planned to move along at.

What other sources will Heritage Malta go for to raise additional funds?
Heritage Malta has set up a business development unit for this purpose. Between 2003 and 2004, in spite of fewer arrivals, the number of visitors to cultural sites went up by nine per cent.

We have started the first shop at the Domus Romana and other shops will follow in quick succession. The plan is to have automatic ticketing systems in most of the more popular sites over the next five months.

Within the next two years, I expect the income from visitors to rise by another Lm500,000. The government has this year provided Heritage Malta with Lm800,000 in recurrent expenditure and just under Lm500,000 as capital expenditure. This means that altogether Heritage Malta has over Lm2 million with which to buoy up its operation.

But notwithstanding all the staff and the higher income, things still seem to take far too long to happen.
One has to bear in mind that we are not in the business of cosmetic surgery. For example, the work being done at Hagar Qim requires a lot of scientific study. Whatever we do has to be legally correct and scientifically sound.

Our strategy is to raise levels to international standard in every site we are responsible for. The Malta Centre for Restoration in Bighi is shortly going to become part of Heritage Malta.

It is scientific soundness that will authenticate the patrimony that we will be passing on to future generations.