MTA two-year plan in the making

The Malta Tourism Authority is due to issue a tourism strategic plan for 2006-2008 by the middle of this year, Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said in Parliament yesterday.

He said the plan followed in the wake of restructuring at the authority which had made it more dynamic and segment and target-driven and not just source-driven.

Presenting the MTA's 2006 financial estimates to the House, Dr Zammit Dimech stressed the importance which the MTA is placing on branding and market segmentation, saying that segment leaders had been asked to set targets according to tourism trends and were now expected to achieve them.

He said the government's funding of the MTA was being increased this year to Lm8.56 million from Lm8.1 million last year and Lm7.9 million in 2004.

The MTA's spending on advertising, marketing and promotion was being raised from Lm6.07 in 2004 to Lm6.9 million in the year which has just started.

An extra Lm500,000 were being budgeted specifically for Malta's branding exercise which the authority had kicked off last year.

The MTA's restructuring meant that the authority had become more cost-effective. The restructuring was also enabling the MTA to focus more on its core functions. Activities such as the organisation of events were being handled by the ministry, which included the Department of Culture.

Dr Zammit Dimech observed that tourist arrivals between January and November last year rose by 1.4 per cent over the same period in 2004, which was significant because 2004 had also registered growth. Earnings from tourism during the same period rose by 1.3 per cent. The performance of the UK market was the best since 1995 and arrivals from Germany, Malta's second biggest market, were consolidated and strengthened.

Through an inter-ministerial committee headed by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, the government was closely and regularly checking progress, Dr Zammit Dimech said.

Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono welcomed the fact that the MTA had designated a Gozo segment within its organisation. Never before had Gozo been given its own exclusive budget by the MTA.

She underlined her ministry's emphasis on tourism saying that among works to be carried out in the coming months were the provision of facilities so that cruise liners could anchor close to Gozo, and an upgrading of Ramla Bay.

Mrs Debono said the MTA's Gozo segment, in collaboration with the Gozo Ministry, was devising a strategy on how Gozo may be advertised abroad.

But besides focusing on marketing, Gozo was to tap European Union funds for projects which would improve the island's infrastructure.

Several capital projects aimed at promoting niche tourism for Gozo were in hand, including the building of a decompression chamber for divers. Diving facilities would include the development of artificial reefs, including the sinking of a wreck.

A plus for diving was that the sea around Gozo would become cleaner now that the sewage masterplan was being completed and sewage would not be dumped untreated into the sea.

Lm500,000 would also be invested in a training institute while plans were under way for an upgrading of the archaeology museum.

Tourism would also benefit, albeit indirectly, through the rebuilding of roads between Victoria and San Lawrenz, between Mgarr and Xewkija and between Xlendi and Victoria.

The government was also studying the possibility of building a by-pass from Victoria to Mgarr next year.