No other topic has captured the imagination of several journalists and contributors in the local press as the current dire situation of the tourism industry. Successive Nationalist administrations have promised political leadership and policy direction for one of the most important sectors of the local economy. Instead, tourism operators are now faced with languishing profit returns caused by dwindling tourism arrivals, shorter stays in hotels and other tourism accommodation facilities and ever-declining expenditure by the foreign tourists - a factor attributable to the low-spending character of a significant segment of tourism arrivals to Malta.

Clearly, tourism is in full-swing crisis. The writing is on the wall, yet, some fail to read it while others mislead people to think that the overall situation is manageable and that the crisis route can be avoided by half-baked solutions such as opening another promotional web portal advertising Destination Malta or by reducing the operators' annual contributions to the Malta Tourism Authority.

The rescue package unveiled several weeks ago by Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech is in dire need of rescue itself. The much-acclaimed tourism branding exercise has been a miserable failure even before hatching, a non-starter to the extent that even the MTA board is now questioning its rationale. In the meantime, the private operators are left on their own, bogged down in the quagmire and uncertainty that perilously looms very close to home especially within the incoming shoulder and winter months.

The latest hotel quarterly surveys commissioned by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association and conducted by Deloitte reveal once again "extremely worrying" figures underpinning the general bleak outlook in particular within the three-star sector where the sharpest fall of 14.4 per cent was registered in occupancy levels when compared with the same periods last year.

Like the greatest majority of the Maltese people, ADZ-Green Youth is asking the question: Is there light at the end of the tunnel? We do not want to paint an all doom and gloom scenario as is often conveniently done by the Labour Party, whose all-too "constructive" contribution is repeatedly stating that its national recovery plans are in the offing. This leaves much to be desired, to say the least, from the main contender for the national driving seat at Castille. Labour seems to be infatuated with the limbo of the opposition benches.

Like all European Green parties increasingly becoming a significant political force to reckon with on the European political landscape, the Maltese Green Party is offering some innovative suggestions on all relevant issues of concern to the Maltese electorate. Indeed, on the occasion of World Tourism Day, ADZ-Green Youth would like to give a fresh impetus to the current debate on the derelict condition of local tourism. As a youth political organisation, we firmly believe in the need of a comprehensive revamp of the tourism policies as pursued by different and successive administrations over the past two decades.

The focus of the tourism debate is clearly on the future sustainability of the tourism industry in the Maltese islands. In this regard, ADZ-Green Youth believes that there is significant "green" policy and pragmatic suggestions that are being given the cold shoulder by policy-makers simply due to the puerile and illogical partisan nature of the local biparty domination in local politics.

ADZ-Green Youth is a firm believer in the need of enhancing Product Malta by diversifying our tourism offer in order to attract higher-spending tourists, consequently bringing real added value to our depleted tourism industry. From a tourism policy perspective, it is clear that Malta needs to address the tourism dilemma from an environmental sustainability perspective besides the more conventional but often over-simplistic economic equation pitting demand against supply considerations.

An ethical ecologically-friendly approach to local tourism development is imperative in the long-term self-interest of the tourism industry itself. Safeguarding our environmental assets is fundamental for the future sustainable development of tourism locally. A thriving tourism sector can only be guaranteed by adopting a national tourism policy divested from the obsessive core strategic objective of attracting mass tourism by selling Malta abroad on the fallacious marketing principle that a small island destination can effectively be everything to everyone.

An ethical approach to tourism signifies among other things that tourism development must go well beyond the traditional "sun, sand and sea" promotion of the Maltese islands. The segment-driven approach adopted in the past months by the MTA is a commendable initiative, however it is undeniable that little progress is being registered in these niche markets with the exception of English language teaching to foreigners and the promotion of diving tourism.

The government along with all willing stakeholders must actively pursue ecologically-friendly tourism by venturing in yet unchartered tourism development routes such as agro-tourism and the developing of marine theme parks. Though the term "eco-tourism" has been coined and is now in circulation since the mid-1980s, regrettably the social and development aspects of eco-tourism have been over-emphasised at the expense of its business enterprise intent.

Eco-tourism is clearly a viable tourism development model. Eco-tourism practices cannot successfully be taken up unless the national tourism regulatory and promotional bodies namely the MTA and the Ministry for Tourism and Culture take a willing lead by embarking on a series of well-planned pilot projects promoting agro-tourism at community level ideally in partnership with clusters of neighbouring local councils and in strict collaboration with the private sector via public-private partnerships.

ADZ-Green Youth believes that Gozo can be easily marketed as a separate and unique agro-tourism destination in an ecologically-friendly manner, thus respecting the underlying principles of sustainable tourism policies.

Other agro-tourism pilot projects can be easily pursued in the few remaining but environmentally-rich rural areas of certain furthest outer harbour area localities such as Rabat, Bahrija and Siggiewi.

The development of marine theme parks capitalising on the aesthetic value of the Maltese archipelago's surrounding Mediterranean sea while preserving the inestimable environmental heritage of our coastline is another tourism niche sector that has not been given due attention by politicians of the MLPN charade as well as by the highly-remunerated and so-called professional consultants employed at the Ministry for Tourism and Culture.

Enhancing Product Malta with ecologically-tuned agro-tourism initiatives is not a mere option but one of the very few realistic avenues left to explore for revitalising the Maltese tourism industry. Sceptics might ask: But is it too late to invest in agro-tourism? ADZ-Green Youth believes it is never too late as long as we manage to market agro-tourism in an innovative and attractive manner. The development of traditional culinary feasts such as olive oil production festivals and traditional wine-pressing events during the grape-picking season that, incidentally, coincides with the end of the peak summer tourism months are other practical examples of eco-tourism initiatives that are yet to be explored.

Crucially, the diversification of Product Malta with eco-tourism packages makes huge economic sense. It is a widely acknowledged fact among the major tourism operators that Malta is fast losing its competitive edge vis-à-vis other destination competitors due to the prohibitive cost structures combined with a rather poor quality product offer on our traditional source markets, notably the UK, Germany and Italy.

We all know how Tunisia, Morocco and other emerging destinations particularly in the Balkans such as Croatia, Montenegro and Bulgaria are offering cheaper prices, better client service, bigger and cleaner beaches! However, the Maltese tourism industry is obsessed with the number of foreign tourist arrivals. In short, the obsession with the volume of tourism arrivals must give way to quality high-spending tourism that can guarantee the sustainable development of the Maltese islands.

From a pricing cost perspective, the future of the local tourism industry also depends to a great extent on our ability to preserve our inestimable tourism resource without concomitantly jeopardising the environmental and related cultural heritage that sustains and nourishes the very profit returns earned from entrepreneurial activity within the travel and hospitality sector.

ADZ-Green Youth reiterates that the way ahead for the local tourism industry is by engaging in innovative activities, already undertaken abroad with proven success without the aid of grand strategic reports and fashion-style branding flops.

Ms Bugeja is spokesman/PR for ADZ Green Youth.

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