A leak that led to a flood

On top of declining tourism figures, Sam Mifsud, the new Malta Tourism Authority chairman, now has to deal with the consequences of a press leak that has culminated in the resignation of his entire board.

The little MTA flag on the chairman's boardroom table flies half-mast, perhaps to mourn the tragic consequences of the first major controversy facing the new incumbent. And at the time the interview was conducted the board had not yet resigned en bloc.

The investigation into the leak of sensitive e-mails circulated among board members left the MTA with no named culprit and an issue with the board that needed "getting over".

The investigation had been launched after a draft letter Mr Mifsud wrote to Brand Malta's Norwegian consultant Christian Sinding - which letter was never sent - was leaked to The Times two weeks ago.

The matter hit fever pitch after last Sunday's Maltatoday reported that a couple of board members felt intimidated by the tactics of the man chosen to investigate, lawyer Joe Zammit Maempel, during a meeting held on Friday.

The government officially announced yesterday that Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech had accepted the resignation of the entire board (see front page).

The new chairman could hardly have expected a worst baptism of fire at a time when negative trends in tourism would seem to be a more pressing concern.

"You really can't tell how hot this seat is until you've sat on it," he said when asked whether the job is more than he bargained for.

"My reaction now is that we have the opportunity to put this whole thing behind us, move on and focus on the issues we have ahead of us for the good of the sector."

But there would have been no need to "move on" if this issue were not blown out of proportion, I comment.

"I would like to emphasise that this was not my call. The board agreed to have this investigation on itself. I appointed Dr Zammit Maempel and floated the idea, which one board member came up with, that an affidavit be signed by all the members.

"I too signed an affidavit, as did the CEO and the board secretary."

But all Dr Zammit Maempel did, he continued, was to explain to the board members, as he was in duty bound to do, the consequences of signing that affidavit, especially in the event of a police investigation.

"The annoying thing about this incident was that Christian Sinding received a phone call from you, I believe, reading to him a letter which he had never received and was not going to receive, so that put us in a weak position."

Mr Mifsud had drafted the letter addressed to Mr Sinding following a board decision to that effect. In that letter, he complained about the false start which characterised the prelude to the branding campaign and suggested that the Norwegian consultant accept a €15,000 discount in his fee for the "relative failure" of the campaign's kick off.

However, the board, in subsequent correspondence, which was also leaked to this newspaper, asked Mr Mifsud to tone down his draft, after the original letter had become public.

"I would like to sort this out," he had said in reference to identifying the source of the leak, "but it will be very difficult to find who that is."

The board members had decided, when the investigations were first launched, that they would resign should the probe prove inconclusive. They did.

It was obvious that the relationship between the chairman and the board would have been strained as his uneasiness with questions regarding his confidence in the board suggests.

"How did we say we would reply to this one," he told his aid, Kevin Drake, who sat in on the interview, when asked whether he still had full confidence in the board.

"After last Sunday's leak to the newspaper... nobody apart from the board and Dr Zammit Maempel was involved and the information was leaked just the same. So it could have only leaked from the board members.

"These things obviously influence the way I think about the board.

"In retrospect, it would have been very difficult to carry on," he said yesterday (when contacted following the resignations announcement). "It would have been very awkward because you will always have a suspect in mind. It would not have been the best of situations."

"Now we can focus ahead; we have bigger issues to deal with."

Bigger issues indeed. Besides the persistent negative trend in tourist figures, there is a barrage of negative press which the branding process has to address now if it is to convey its message successfully.

The timing of the launch of the branding process was probably the worst thing about it, he acknowledges.

"We had a timing issue... an executive chairman resigning, the minister himself being asked to step down, tourism figures going down and we came out with this campaign telling the public how we are going to sell Malta abroad."

He is optimistic about salvaging the campaign: "Even if it weren't the best way, people were still exposed to the idea, everyone is talking about branding. Awareness is there, now we have to fine-tune it.

"We have our strengths and we need to make people aware of it. On the whole I think we have a good product and as a tourism industry we deserve much better.

"When we'll be relaunching, in a couple of weeks time... the first images that will come out will be of people who a few months ago were the winners of the start programme... people nominated by visitors for the exceptional service they give. One of them is a bus driver, the other a receptionist..."

But that alone will not help the figures for, after all, this part of the campaign is directed at the Maltese and not potential tourists. His diagnosis, in this respect, differs from the usual arguments, which say that Malta's product is expensive or faulty.

"In my opinion our problem has nothing to do with our product or our hospitality. If we don't have the seats available coming to Malta we have a problem.

"We had a 12 per cent drop in aircraft movements and only a drop of four per cent in tourists so the demand is there. We just don't have the seats."

"The air connection is vital in our case. Condor cancelled from Germany, British Airways reduced their flights by nearly half. Lufthansa stopped flying to Munich.

"From Italy, for instance, to where Air Malta, Alitalia and now Meridiana operate, we have had increases. So if you have the seats you get the tourists."

In Germany the opposite is happening. There has been a stop sale since March, he points out.

Low-cost airlines will help but on their own they will not solve the problem, he says.

The problem stems from a declining trend experienced by tour operators. Tour operators have reduced their programme and either cut the number of charters or moved to Air Malta.

"We have to keep tour operators interested in Malta and in this respect we recently signed an agreement with MyTravel, one of the UK's leading tour operators. They have offered to float 20,000 seats throughout the year but mainly in the winter with Air Malta.

"What we are telling the tour operators is: If they want us to support them as we used to do, well, basically they have to keep flying in winter. With the MyTravel breakthrough hopefully others will follow.

"We also need to raise awareness among travel agencies. So, again, we have attracted a conference of some 2,000 top travel agents, which will be held in Malta.

"Obviously there was stiff competition with Egypt, especially, but we managed to convince them. That's 2,000 travel agents coming to Malta to see the product. We will be relaunching the Malta name with them."