Tourists will only come to our islands if we give them a positive experience at the right price. Even that is not enough. We have to give tourists not just something better, but also something different, something unique. Otherwise, with so many different destinations to go to, why should they choose to come to the Maltese Islands?

So more of the same is simply not enough. We need to renew our tourism product and give it a new lease of life. We need a 10-year strategic plan. All our competitors have their strategic plans, and more important than simply having them, they are mobilising their human and financial resources to implement their national strategic plans to give their tourism a future. 

We do not have a national tourism strategic plan. Imagine trying to build a house without a plan... with different builders involved... all proceeding with a different picture in their head of what the house should look like!

We have allowed our tourism to grow in such an absurd and haphazard manner.

Launching the Blueprint for New Tourism, less than two years ago, the President of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), Jean-Claude Baumgarten said: "There is now a new consciousness among governments that they cannot leave the growth of travel and tourism to chance. What is needed is a new vision and strategy involving a partnership between all stakeholders - public and private to turn future challenges into opportunities."

But we do not need a document called a strategic plan to be able to say that we have one. We have had such documents but they led us nowhere. In its Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) review Deloitte concludes "The MTA's Second Strategic Plan has not really delivered as it had no specific measurable targets, no clearly mapped out action plan, no ownership and little input from the private sector, resulting in what has been dismissed by many as a public relations report and not a strategy."

The number of tourists visiting Malta and Gozo has stagnated around the 1.1 million mark and they have been spending less and less of their money in Malta and Gozo. Even the MTA review admits that our tourism industry "has effectively been stagnant over the last five years... Malta has lost market share in all its main outbound markets." Other countries have caught up with us and even surpassed us as they are offering better quality holiday experiences.

Government must take the initiative to drive the wide and deep consultative process with all the stakeholders to formulate a strategic plan for tourism, which all the country will own. We can only succeed if we have a whole country approach and a really national effort to make our tourism survive and thrive.

Our 10-year strategic plan must spell out how we aim at repositioning our island as not just another sun and sea destination but as islands with a rich cultural and natural heritage. We must decide how we are going to develop and promote our islands as attractive for leisure, culture, sports, language learning, conference and incentive travel, film production, cruise and stay, health and wellness and other niche markets.

If Government wants to mobilise real support for the action needed to make tourism grow again, all the stakeholders must be involved in a meaningful way, in drawing up a national strategy plan for tourism and within that shaping a new role for the MTA. It is good that steps are to be taken to reallocate taxpayers' money into improving our product and attracting more tourists to enjoy it, instead of allowing millions of liri to be swallowed up by administrative costs of the MTA. As much as possible, 70 per cent - instead of the present 58 per cent - of the MTA budget should be spent on its core function to market and promote our islands. And simply throwing millions of liri into marketing is not enough. We must ensure that money is being spent effectively and is attracting more and higher spending tourists to our islands.

A whole country approach

In this internet age we must make ourselves more visible in cyberspace and create user friendly and interactive Websites to make our islands more accessible, where anybody can book trips, accommodation and find interesting stories about our culture, heritage, lifestyle and food.

Government must also take a strategic initiative to build a coalition with other EU member states to push tourism up the EU agenda. There is no central strategic vision of a tourism policy at the level of the EU. Yet more than 250 EU regulations drawn up in the social, environmental, fiscal transport and agricultural sectors have a decisive impact on tourism.

The EU introduces measures without a proper impact assessment on tourism, making it more difficult to compete with tourism outside the EU. When Tourism ministers meet in Malta in a few months time, Malta must not miss the opportunity to push for tourism to occupy a higher role within the EU.

Government has a strategic role to play in the way forward for tourism in our islands. It must not abdicate that role. We need a whole government approach to move tourism forward. Tourists visit a country not just a hotel or a residence so they expect good value for money, convenient and cheaper air links to Malta, a healthy environment, a clean country, proper roads, good public transport and affordable taxis, a well educated and properly trained workforce giving top quality service, good conference facilities, nice beaches flying the Blue Flag, well presented heritage sites, rich cultural experiences, authentic local food, law enforcement to control abuses, clear seas where to dive and proper facilities for divers, well managed schools where to learn English through top quality courses...

evaristbartolo@hotmail.com