Doing it tastefully

Last Thursday, I inaugurated this year's fifth edition of the Mediterranean Food Festival at the Eden Arena. For this occasion, the venue was transformed into a typical Maltese village with stalls displaying food from various Mediterranean countries.

I am confident that the organisation of regular events that serve as magnets for more tourists to come to Malta is one of the best ways to present better Product Malta. Gastronomy has a lure all of its own and, as the turnout by Maltese and visitors alike is already proving this weekend, the Food Festival is one of the more popular events that now form a regular part of the Tourism and Culture Ministry's calendar.

This year the festival is, for the first time ever, being held over two weekends and will carry on from March 10 to 12. As in previous years, a 'Mediterranean Culinary Competition' that is open to local and international chefs competing for the coveted prize of the best Mediterranean dishes is being organised. Amateur chefs and cooks will compete for the best Maltese traditional dishes. Both competitions will be judged by a panel of international chefs. Foreign and local entertainers will animate the festival with music and dance routines from the Mediterranean.

The festival is one of a list of activities organised by the Ministry for Tourism and Culture aimed at increasing our competitiveness and promoting Malta as a worthwhile experience, rather than just another destination. Other activities organised by the ministry include the Malta Fireworks Festival, the Malta Historic Cities Festival, the Fort St Elmo In Guardia parade and Alarme re-enactments.

It is interesting to note that even though reports suggest that there will be a decline in tourist arrivals for the first quarter of this year, forecasts for the whole of 2006 are positive, with tourism starting to pick up in April. Following the restructuring exercise, the Malta Tourism Authority's redefined marketing and sales team is now segment-oriented. Each segment leader signed for a minimum target based on the international outlook for 2006 together with tourism trends in Malta and for an optimum target based on Government official targets for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007.  

Over the past few days, our segment leaders and action teams have been going through a very thorough training session which I hear went off very successfully.

The MTA is leaving no stone unturned in its efforts to keep our product competitive. Nearly two years after Malta became a member of the European Union, we are already making good use of the EU funds that are available for tourism and other projects. Through EU funds three projects are under way. The MTA obtained funds for a €2.5 million project for tourism-related schemes aimed at helping tourism enterprises. A €1 million project is for tourism product improvements - these funds are being allocated for the embellishment of Crucifix Hill/Gilormu Cassar Avenue and for the Howard Gardens embellishment project. A further €400,000 project is for tourism and support services training programmes.

Tourism is a dynamic sector where competition is strong and where we have to continuously explore ways to keep our market share in an industry, which is now truly international.

The Mediterranean Food Festival will host a number of foreign chefs from ten Mediterranean countries: Morocco, Italy, France, Spain, Turkey, Cyprus, Libya, Lebanon and Greece. Malta is well represented by numerous stalls that will offer a variety of typical Maltese and Gozitan dishes and beverages.

To accentuate the festival's theme various foreign folk groups have also been invited. One hails from Morocco, one from Egypt and another from Greece. These, apart from a variety of Maltese folk groups and other entertainers, will be performing as they mingle with the visitors in the festival hall.

For Malta to be competitive in the tourism sector we need to concentrate on giving visitors true value for money. Restaurants form a very important part of the tourism infrastructure. During his stay in Malta, a visitor will definitely come across some of over 1,000 restaurants spread all over the islands.

Maltese dishes distinguish our cuisine from that of other countries. At a time when we are doing our best to promote Malta as an experience, we should do our utmost to encourage our local cuisine. Enhancing and improving our cuisine will place Malta on the gastronomic map.

The festival's first weekend coincides with a visit by a CNN crew that is here to produce material for an advert promoting Malta that will soon be aired on the international network. The crew has been busy filming our unique historic sites including the Hypogeum, as well as various places of interest ranging from Gozo to a typical festa at Mgarr, Malta, from an evening at the Manoel Theatre to a glimpse of our night life.

The crew is spending hours filming, rigging up lights, emphasising the right effects, highlighting different authentic facets of what Malta is all about - to produce a 30-second advert that must compete for attention with adverts produced by other countries all around the world, many with budgets that will always surpass ours.

I am informed that the crew have simply fallen in love with our country. For them as it is already - as we hope it will be for millions of viewers who might have heard about Malta but never set foot here - the joy of discovering a secret that appears to have been too well protected, for far too long.

Tourism is not about keeping secrets, but about being aware of what makes Malta different from other destinations, about what constitutes the experience of visiting Malta as opposed to taking a trip to some other part of the world.

As a result of restructuring within the MTA, we have been able to save money that was formerly spent on administrative expenses and use it for professional marketing and publicity campaigns that are needed to go for growth in the industry that can act as the most important economic motor in our country.

Inviting over top personalities as we are doing with Ainsley Harriott to the food festival and reaching an agreement with CNN over a professionally-run advertising campaign for Malta, are two means to oil that motor and produce results.

Ultimately it is all about promoting our own identity. In Malta we do not need the luxury to make believe - creating attractions that do not relate to our own authentic heritage, our layers of history that are still manifest in our way of life.

An interesting attraction that has been added to this year's food festival is an exhibition about how salt is mined or farmed. One can also see photos of different salt areas in Malta and Gozo and appreciate better how it has been done throughout the centuries as well as the hundreds of different uses to which salt can be put.

The whole concept of creating a replica of a Maltese village to house the festival is meant to enhance the experience of attending an event that has all the characteristics of our country written all over it.

In a world where there is more emphasis on healthy food, the Mediterranean diet is being discovered and appreciated all over the world. In our case, we belong to it and contribute our own dishes and specialities to that experience.

I would particularly like to thank all those who have done us proud and brought out the different delights of our own food, through the fruit and vegetable stalls, displays of nougat, traditional cakes, sculptures made out of fat and lard, and, of course, the ever-popular Maltese olive oil stand.

There is one appropriate expression for it all and in this case it is not only the metaphoric meaning that is intended. Success is being achieved through doing it tastefully.

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