Destination Malta to be re-branded

The Malta Tourism Authority will next month start a re-branding exercise for Malta as a holiday destination.

The Ministry of Tourism said additional financial resources and marketing efforts will be dedicated to marketing cultural tourism, sport tourism, language learning tourism, conference tourism and to promoting Gozo as a tourist destination, among other niches.

The government is aiming to achieve an increase of between 100,000 and 150,000 tourists by 2006/2007, the ministry said.

In a bid to attain these results, it has decided that it should retain the market share of visitors who come here to enjoy the sun and sea and who book through established tourist agencies and specialised tourist operators.

"Tourism requires an effective and collective effort to strengthen it. The government should only be part of this effort. All other stakeholders should participate in strengthening this very important pillar of our economy," the ministry said.

The ministry was reacting to comments made by Evarist Bartolo, the Labour Party spokesman on tourism, and by Alternattiva Demokratika about the government's alleged lack of direction in the industry.

"It is absolutely incorrect to allege that there is lack of direction in the tourism sector," the ministry noted.

The ministry said figures released by Malta International Airport indicate a 6.9 per cent drop in departures in April. However, at 321,038, the overall departure figures for the first four months of the year were marginally better than those for the same period last year.

"The timing of Easter each year has an impact on tourism. This year Easter was celebrated in March. This explains the 8.5 per cent increase in departures during March and any drop in tourism figures for April.

"Monthly figures are there to keep track of all our tourism markets and take remedial measures where necessary. To have a clear picture of our tourism industry we should look at broader figures," the ministry said. It added that the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Tourism chaired by the Prime Minister, originally intended to meet once a month, was meeting on average every three weeks with progress made on all decisions reached being reported back.

As a result of these meetings, a maintenance programme of the area stretching from the airport to Valletta was expected to be carried out in the coming months and more beach enhancement projects on the model used in St George's Bay are programmed. The next beach enhancement is for Qawra.

The ministry said that the restructuring exercise at the MTA should release funds being spent on administration to be dedicated to marketing and promotion.

As a result of last year's restructuring, the MTA has saved Lm342,000 in administration costs.