From January to April this year the number of tourists visiting Malta and Gozo has increased by 3,920. To make it worse, this low increase also means that the tourists who came spent fewer bed nights among us than the year before and also spent Lm1 million less. The increase of 3,920 tourists is very poor compared to what is happening in the rest of the world and to the targets set by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and his government.
Figures just published by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) show that for the first four months of 2006 international tourist arrivals worldwide grew by 10 million, or 4.5 per cent, four times the increase registered by Malta and Gozo.
The same WTO figures show that international tourist arrivals in Southern and Mediterranean Europe increased by five per cent. Our competitors, except Cyprus (minus four per cent), all performed better than us: Spain (plus six per cent) and Italy (plus five per cent) not to mention new destinations like Croatia (plus 12 per cent), Montenegro (plus 10 per cent) and Morocco (plus 17 per cent).
Our dismal growth of one per cent in numbers is well below the targets set by the Prime Minister in November 2004 when he delivered his budget speech for 2005. He had set a target of an increase of 50,000 tourists a year from 2005 to 2007. The increase for 2005 was only of 14,500 tourists while the total number of tourists who came over spent almost Lm5 million less than the year before. The target for 2006 has been set by the Tourism Minister at 70,000, to make up for the missed target in 2005.
All indications are that the target for 2006 is going to be missed again, and, to make matters worse, Malta reduced air seat capacity and thousands of tourists who want to visit are not finding the planes to bring them over. In addition, several major tour operators have also reduced their programmes to Malta and Gozo, dealing a severe blow to 4 and 3-star hotels that depend for 85 - 90 per cent of their business on them.
It is not at all surprising that the government is missing the targets it set for tourism. The government does not have a sense of direction and is operating without a national tourism strategic plan.
The government needs a strategic plan of action to revive tourism. The Prime Minister's declaration in November 2004 of bringing an additional 150,000 tourists between 2005 and 2007 had no strategic action plan underpinning it.
The government has been giving the impression it has a strategic plan. This deception is exposed clearly by the Implementation Report For The Restructuring Of The Malta Tourism Authority of February 8, 2005. The report states that between July 15 and November 30, 2005 the main targets for a three-year tourism plan will be identified. This crucial part of the restructuring process has fallen behind schedule. The national strategic tourism plan has still to be drawn up.
In fact the MTA review drawn up by Deloitte & Touche rightly points out as Key Issue No. 1: "MTA has produced a number of strategic plans, which have delivered little focused action and poor results".
The solution proposed by Deloitte is "An integrated tourism planning approach with strong private sector input and a strategy that contains specific, measurable, attainable, realistic targets and action plans (supported by timeframes and budgets) which have designated ownership for each task".
The Deloitte review stresses that "Notwithstanding the current financial limitations, the government must look at the implementation of a Product Improvement Action Plan as a national priority investment and should be prepared to make an immediate and significant 'catch-up' investment which will bring 'Product Malta' up to scratch. The government should consider ways of using additional revenue from tourism growth as a means of financing this initial investment and ongoing annual investment. If tourism does not achieve its growth potential then Malta will have a serious national economic problem".
As small islands we suffer from many disadvantages. But one advantage we have over our island competitors is that we are sovereign and can plan more effectively and single mindedly and with considerable cohesion and consensus in tourism. But the government is not showing the necessary whole-hearted commitment needed to bring the country together and revive tourism.
The Labour Party is committed to support tourism as a whole government and to revive it and give it a new beginning. There is no quick fix solution. We can only hope for steady improvements. Success will not come easy. But if we want to save and revive the tourism industry we have to become more focused and more committed to tourism and the government has to lead the way. It is failing miserably to do so.
Mr Bartolo is a Labour member of Parliament.