Marketing Malta

As the saying goes "Never kick a man when he's down". It is an admirable statement for humans. But where business is concerned, facing stark facts and turning brutal problems around into positive actions is the only way a company can survive... and most important of all, keep its employees - employed!

I presented my view on Malta's tourism during a seminar on September 12 organised by The Worshipful Company of Marketors. I explained that the country needed to use marketing principles including "joined up thinking". For example, 5-star hotels need to be placed in at least 4-star locations if the tourist market is going to take Malta seriously, by delivering what it actually advertises.

I undertook some research prior to the event. Here are some of my additional observations.

The Paceville area has an increasing number of 5-star hotels but the centre is full of themed bars and restaurants aimed at the youth market who generally budget for 2/3 star hotels. The quality and variation of shops that a 5-star hotel visitor would demand is not there either. I researched jewellery shops. To a man, they were all commercially struggling and desperately seeking the disappearing tourist market but none had put 2 + 2 together. The Paceville area is not attractive enough for their prime 5-star hotel market sector.

Mdina is a lovely old city full of fascinating history with a 5-star hotel (excellent, may I say) but I do hope they do not send visitors to the Mdina Maltese Experience, despite being an obvious attraction. Experience is the word. It is a three-venue, low quality affair where firstly a 1960's style slide show tells of the fascinating Maltese history. Then you are left to find the next venue somewhere in Mdina which is not sign posted and is roped off. Equally, the third building needs a good Red Indian or Cavalry Scout to locate. The diametrically opposing qualities of the Xara Palace 5-star hotel and poor tourist attraction infrastructure could not be more apparent.

Mediterranean cruise liners are like golden geese because they spill out on average 1,600 people with an excellent level of spending power, a very real source of income. Now liners dock at Pinto Wharf which has recently been extensively refurbished with further work being undertaken. I must say the wharf is really taking good shape but I visited a restaurant there with my wife; we waited three to four minutes while the receptionist confirmed we could have a table and were asked to take whichever position we chose in the empty dining areas. We decided to sit outside and start the evening with drinks and watch the sunset - romantic we thought. We waited and waited and waited, and after 15 minutes of waiting with not a single restaurant person approaching us, we left. Imagine what cruise passenger feedback this could have had on a docked ship?

These are not isolated examples of my experiences of poor tourist treatment; I could go on. In the human psyche, bad experiences are remembered and outweigh the good ones, if there are enough of them; the invaluable word-of-mouth marketing value is totally lost.

You could be forgiven for believing I am advocating a massive Malta change where every place and palace is rebuilt to Disney perfection and each person in services is a clone of a Thai 5-star hotelier. Not so, in fact if changed in this way, Malta would lose its charming identity. But like most things in life, there is a need for balance, particularly when selling to an ever demanding market that is spoilt for choice.

Malta needs to make some stark choices and turn around some of its inherent deficits, as brutal as this may initially seem. My recommendation is that key Maltese places must have government guidance otherwise all the good work of marketing to 5-star tourists, or cruise ship destination controllers, is wasted.