At the end of May the number of families who had registered themselves with the Malta Tourism Authority as host families and paid the licence to accommodate students who come here to study English had dropped to 876.
From 2003 to 2005 the number of host families had increased from 1,258 to 2,013. No wonder that in recent days several English language schools have been frantically looking for families to host their students, on the eve of the peak season when most of the students start arriving.
It is a shame that Government, instead of supporting this sector and helping it to grow, is making life more difficult for English language schools by very badly mishandling the issue of how host families should be taxed.
This issue has now been dragging for more than a year and a legal notice clarifying the system will only be ready by the end of this month. Families have been receiving a letter from the Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech "explaining" to them in incomprehensible bureaucratic and technical language "the method of taxation on income received from the hosting of students".
This issue should have been dealt with in winter so as not to throw English language schools and host families into more panic, anxiety and uncertainty. The taxation and security obligations would have been explained to the host families patiently and calmly. Instead host families now are told to call the Inland Revenue Department only to find that the persons answering the phones are themselves not very well informed. This throws more host families into confusion.
Host families will simply decide not to keep any more students if the small profit most of them get from this activity will mean higher taxes, tough social security contributions, lower pensions and the loss of other social benefits like children's allowance.
If most of them decide that it is not worthwhile for them to host students, not only will they lose the much needed income they have been having to help them cope with taxes, surcharges and the cost of living, but the English language schools will also lose out as there is no way that accommodation in hotels can substitute for the welcoming environment and care that most of the families give the students.
Several operators have already told local English language schools that they are very upset at what is happening in Malta and have shown their intentions to take their students to English language schools in other competing destinations.
Tapping a huge world market
Teaching English as a foreign language can be a very successful business. We have at least 57,000 coming to our islands every year to take a course in one of 46 schools. This sector generates Lm39 million every year, employs over 1,100 teachers, mostly part-time, provides income for over hundreds of host families and creates business for catering establishments, entertainment spots, shops and transport. This English language learning segment constitutes just below five per cent of tourist arrivals and nine per cent of tourism expenditure.
There is a huge world market for English teaching. All around the world English is increasingly the language of business, technology, science and modernity. We can increase our share of this market but Government must take the lead and mobilise our national resources to promote the sector overseas and get our act together to welcome more students among us. In recent months the governments of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia have taken new initiatives to attract more students from China, Saudi Arabia and Latin America. They are conducting co-ordinated national marketing campaigns to attract more students and the revenue they generate.
Canada is lagging behind and has seen a decline in the number of Chinese students coming to Canada since 2002. A report by the Canadian Asian Pacific Foundation concludes: "The consensus among international educators is that one reason Canada is not competitive, as it might be is because it lacks national leadership at the political level."
The same can be said of Malta. Compared to other competitor countries, the Maltese government is doing practically nothing to promote Malta, as a study destination. As other countries take initiatives to attract students from all over the world, the Maltese government is turning them away. Its message to students from non-European Union countries is: you are not welcome in Malta. Educational establishments are told: look for new markets! Steps need to be taken to increase the number of persons from non-EU countries who want to come and learn English, train and study in Malta and Gozo.
In the opposite direction
Like other EU countries, we should be working vigorously to attract persons from Asia, Latin America, Russia and the former Soviet republics and the Gulf countries, which are the real growth markets in this sector. Other governments do not hesitate to give their industries a leading edge by also easing obstacles for border crossing and issuing of visas.
Most of those who do not come to Malta to learn English because they are turned back by our immigration authorities then manage to go to other European countries that compete with us in this world market. Why should it be easier for them to go to other European countries than to come to us?
After accusing the Maltese authorities of turning our islands into a transit country into Italy for illegal Chinese immigrants who come to Malta under the pretence of studying English, the Italian authorities are now simplifying visa procedures for Chinese students and offering them free tuition at many Italian universities, including Catania, Messina and Palermo. Chinese students are only charged a €1,000 registration fee. The British Council's objective is to attract 130,000 Chinese students every year to study English in the UK. The UK Council for International Education wants the government to redouble its recruitment efforts in China.
The Maltese government is moving in the opposite direction. Government is making life more difficult for English language schools and other educational establishments by discouraging them from attracting students and clients from non-EU countries. This does not make business sense and is depriving our schools from reaping the benefits of growth regions in Asia, Latin America and the Arab world.
What Government is doing is surely not the way to help this sector move forward and compete better against other destinations like the United Kingdom, Ireland Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Government needs to support this sector by easing the burden of taxation on it, by simplifying visa procedures for non-EU students and by carrying out co-ordinated national marketing campaigns in other countries.
evaristbartolo@hotmail.com