One year later

It was exactly one year ago when Malta acceded to the European Union. Last night, as well as on Friday we celebrated the event through a magnificent fireworks festival that brought back memories of the festivities held in Grand Harbour on the night we joined the Union.

A number of foreign journalists have been in Malta following our anniversary party, and on Friday I was interviewed by journalists from Rai Uno, Spanish national television, TVE, as well as the influential French paper Le Figaro. Our membership of the European Union means that Malta gains from wider exposure and coverage. As I keep telling the foreign journalists who come over, "We're now part of the family".

One of the secrets of a successful tourism marketing strategy is to have a calendar of regular events that attract tourists who would travel purposely to be present. The fact that the fireworks festival that is organised by the Malta Tourism Authority will now always be held on the anniversary of the EU's largest ever enlargement that took place on May 1, 2004, means that we have enriched our events' calendar with a major attraction that tour operators and our overseas offices can market well in advance.

An audio-visual spectacle depicting the Great Siege of 1565 with music from the musical that bears its name has been added to this year's fireworks' festival. Another innovation in this year's festival was the use of the equipment known as 'Fire One' that has provided for a fireworks display that is perfectly synchronised to the music being played. The computerised system allows for synchronisation up to one thousandth of a second. The system is used in fireworks festivals of the highest international calibre.

Joining the European Union is cause for celebration since Malta is steadily and surely adopting European standards in all those spheres that are having a positive impact on our way of life. Adopting such standards when it comes to the environment, the overall infrastructure, transport and communications' policies, as well as rules on competition, to quote some examples, indicates that the country is going through a healthy, even if occasionally difficult, transformation that will see to a stronger economic base from which to move ahead to further growth.

The challenges ahead are not lacking. One of these is joining the exchange rate mechanism for the Maltese lira to be pegged totally to the euro in anticipation of adopting the single European currency. Such a move will guarantee stability and will make our country more competitive in an age where isolation is no longer an option.

In the meantime, the country is already benefiting from EU funds and this year we shall be using Lm66 million from that source. We are not carrying out the transition and national restructuring process on our own, but as promised ahead of membership, we are doing all the reforms that we require for our own sake with the assistance of the rest of our European family.

The confirmation that Malta will still be regarded as an Objective One country in respect of the next financial period of the EU, from 2007 to 2013, is excellent news. It proves that Government is relentlessly doing whatever is necessary to maximise membership benefits for our country. The same forces that up till two years ago were trying to minimise these benefits are now trying to belittle this major achievement.

In the field of tourism and culture, a number of projects have been identified as qualifying for European funding. These include the preservation and conservation project for our megalithic temples, doing up and embellishing the entire area from the Cruise Liner Passenger Terminal site up to Castile Square, as well as seeing to Howard Gardens in Mdina.

Over and above such national projects, on August 16, 2004, the grant scheme for tourism enterprises was launched. As many as 54 projects hailing directly from the tourism industry have qualified for funding in terms of this scheme that on its own has a value of over Lm1 million.

Tourism is the most important cornerstone of the national economy, and all help extended towards it is the best form of investing in our country's future. Malta's EU membership is one of the factors that has helped this industry begin to recover last year. For the first time in four years, last year Malta managed to increase the volume of tourists, and tourist expenditure has gone up.

Having said that, there is no room for complacency and we must, on a daily basis, go through the relevant checklists and benchmarks to see whether the country is on track or not. This need has become even more incumbent now that we have made a commitment with the people to increase tourist arrivals in Malta by 50,000 a year for three years, commencing this year.

The latest statistics offer scope for encouragement. Last month we have had an increase of 8% in tourist arrivals. As a result, even though we had a bad February, there has been an increase of 1.5% when it comes to departures of tourists who chose Malta as their destination over the first three months of this year compared to the first quarter of last year.

Moreover, total tourist spending has gone up by Lm200,000 although per capita spend is down by close to Lm2. Again, comparing first quarter this year with first quarter last year, while the total number of bed nights spent by tourists reflected a drop of 0.2%, nights spent in hotel accommodation establishments increased by 3.9% and accounted for 72.8% of the total nights spent.

In the meantime, the number of cruise passengers in Malta has shot up from 2,753 in the first quarter of last year to 15,675 this year.

On Friday, the Prime Minister inaugurated the new Seabank Riu hotel in Mellieha. This hotel that is now operating with an international franchise has not only been upgraded from around 150 to 283 rooms, but has also been provided with excellent amenities including a Jungle theme restaurant, a children's playing area, a snooker room, bowling facilities as well as a wellness centre that includes an indoor pool and a gym.

On Friday, I toured the facilities provided by this hotel and could not help make the comment that the Debono family represents one of our country's success stories. It all kicked off 20 years ago when prophetically they had bought the 'Pot of Gold' guesthouse with around nine rooms in the same locality! Now the same family owns the new hotel, as well as the complex opposite the hotel which used to house the former Tunny Net. The complex includes restaurant, a pub, a disco club, a beach lido and sea sports' facilities.

The Debonos also own the Port Azzurro aparthotel with 124 rooms, Malta's first Hard Rock Café in Paceville, as well as the Mercure Coralia Hotel with another 300 rooms.

Over the years, the private sector has invested no less than Lm500 million in hotels and other tourism facilities. These are the people who put their money where their mouth is and that is why all tourism strategies need to reflect the sound advice and collaboration provided by the stakeholders themselves.

Apart from the Seabank Riu hotel, five more hotel openings are expected this year. The other hotels, including the magnificent five-star Golden Sands Bay resort, representing a total of Lm39 million in investment, 1,844 beds and providing, through their custom, for 27,000 new tourists.

The way forward is to keep increasing the band of higher yield segments such as the conference and incentive niche that has last year brought over around 55,000 delegates who spent a total of Lm18.8 million.

The opening of the Seabank Riu hotel has coincided well with our first anniversary celebrations since joining the European Union. Malta will contribute towards a proactive tourism policy within the Union that will benefit the industry. One year later, it is again time to look ahead at the further challenges and opportunities that lie ahead of us.

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