Power to the driving force

After six months at the helm of the Malta Tourism Authority, we feel it our duty to list, for the satisfaction of both the public and the tourism industry, the initiatives and changes that have been set in motion, which initiatives have had and will continue to have a positive impact on the industry.

Certain positive measures were taken by the MTA's new leadership almost immediately upon taking office. These included the re-appointing of MTA representatives in core markets, the negotiated withdrawal of the costly CNN advertising campaign, and the restructuring of the branding exercise in such a way as to render it far more effective, especially overseas.

Other far reaching measures were also taken.

After careful research, the marketing function within the MTA was restructured in order to promote greater synergies and a secure heightened efficiency in our efforts to promote Malta overseas. This has also included significant changes within the main MTA offices in the UK and Germany.

The MTA launched the visitmalta web portal last month, incorporating a booking engine and a completely re-engineered website, making it more user friendly and, therefore, more efficient. A significant increase in visits to the visitmalta site was registered almost immediately. Bookings have also started to be made via the portal.

The MTA has re-established excellent rapports with the major tour operators in the core markets, especially the Malta specialists.

In September 2006, a few days after taking office, we travelled to the UK in order to meet up with and iron out any differences with major UK tour operators. During these meetings the need for an autumn campaign for the UK market was discussed. To this end, the MTA immediately "put its money where its mouth is", so to say, and initiated a joint advertising autumn campaign with all the major operators. After these meetings, and the launch of the autumn campaign initiative, the MTA began working on the full-blown interim winter/spring campaign, in consultation with the operators overseas.

This year's winter and spring campaign in all our core overseas markets promises to be one of the most wide-reaching and effective to date. The new artworks and designs for the campaign were created after lengthy consultations with overseas operators, who are now also using the new visuals themselves to promote Malta and Gozo, thus ensuring a more holistic, synergised, focused and effective approach in the media overseas.

Over the past few months, the MTA left no stone unturned in ensuring that Malta will have the necessary flight capacity to bring visitors over to our islands this year. Last year, one of the principal problems the tourism industry faced was lack of suitable flight capacity, especially from core markets such as Germany. Through the unstinting efforts of the MTA, and with a lot of cooperation from the national carrier Air Malta, this problem appears to have been resolved for this year at least.

In collaboration with Air Malta, the MTA also began to advertise on Sky News - a pan-European TV station that is a firm favourite in our strongest core markets - as of January this year. The feedback from this campaign has so far been very positive.

Relations with the main stakeholders in the industry have improved considerably over the past few months, with update and consultation meetings being held on a very regular basis. To this end, the MTA will shortly start issuing a monthly industry update bulletin.

Following extensive work by the various divisions within the MTA and the Ministry for Tourism and Culture over the past six months, the MTA submitted an array of projects to be considered for EU structural funding.

Much effort has also gone into the finalisation of the lengthy process leading towards the selection of an international agency that will be promoting Malta overseas over the next three years.

Since last November, the number of visitors has been rising when compared to the previous year, month after month. The November 2006 - February 2007 period will be showing a month-on-month increase, with December 2006 being especially positive. This is no coincidence. A lot of work has gone into the MTA's efforts to start turning the tide. These figures should also serve to provide the industry with some optimism, albeit cautious optimism, when looking at the coming months.

As of September 2006, work began on the formulation of a comprehensive, serious and feasible marketing plan for Malta for the 2008 - 2010 period. This marketing plan will be finalised over the next few months.

Together with the Ministry for Tourism and Culture, the MTA was instrumental in the formulation of the Tourism Plan for Malta and Gozo, launched recently, and has committed all divisions within the authority to fulfilling the plan according to the given timelines.

With regard to communication, both internal and external, this has improved considerably over the past months. The undersigned, those at the helm of the MTA, have adopted a complete "open door" policy from day one. The staff at the MTA know where we're all heading, are fully aware of what is expected from each and every one of us, and the opportunities for discussion and frank exchange are plentiful. Communication with various stakeholder groups has also improved exponentially, and will continue to improve in the coming weeks. Relations with the media have also taken a significant turn for the better, with the "open door" policy extended to one and all members of the media 24/7.

The MTA is unequivocally adopting a Back To Basics approach. Let's focus on what our absolute priorities are and ensure that all our efforts and resources are focused towards achieving those goals.

We need to bring the numbers in, first and foremost. No question about it. All our resources must therefore be allocated in that direction. Our number one concern is promoting travel to the Maltese islands effectively and efficiently in our core markets, using in a cost-effective manner our budgets in such a way as to provide the maximum possible exposure for Malta overseas. That is being done in the most professional manner, with all the resources at our disposal.

The direction is clear, everyone knows where we're heading, and, speaking on behalf of all of us at the MTA, bar none, everyone is on board, ready and willing to give nothing less than 100 per cent in this regard.

We re-iterate the fact that these first six months at the helm of the MTA are just the beginning of what we trust will be a period of increased activity and growth within the Maltese tourism industry. There are many plans for the future, and we have no doubt in our minds that many of the projects we are undertaking will be fulfilled successfully.

The MTA will continue to embrace change in order to improve and maximise the potential of the tourism industry in an ever-changing and highly competitive marketplace. We have adopted and will continue to adopt performance-related and business-oriented approaches towards all that we do, and we have also encouraged management to introduce best work and management practices at all levels and at all times.

We firmly believe that in this manner, the MTA will carry out its rightful role as the driving force within Malta's tourism industry. Ultimately, it is for the success and continued growth of this same industry that we strive to serve, in line with all relevant policies as issued by the Ministry for Tourism and Culture.

Mr Sam Mifsud is chairman of the MTA and Mr David Mifsud is chief executive officer.