Killing the golden goose

During the last few weeks two important studies were published which are of special interest to our tourism industry.

Dr Cyrus Vakili-Zad is an urban sociologist with more than 20 years' experience in teaching, research and housing policy development. He has just published a book, Housing Policy in Malta - Malta's place in the world of welfare capitalism.

Dr Vakili-Zad is quoted as saying: "Malta has definitely lost its charm and beauty of a small island with thousands of years of history reflecting in its historical towns, old farmhouses, and traditionally designed villages that should be preserved for not only tourists and world travellers, but as a world heritage, and for the future generations of Maltese who may someday be looking back and searching for their roots... Malta is fast losing its charms. In other words, Malta is killing its golden goose that lays the golden eggs."

The Lisbon Council is an advocacy group and policy network committed to raising European competitiveness, encouraging economic growth, promoting structured reform and creating jobs. It has just issued a report entitled Jobs of the future that predicts that travel and tourism will be one of the few high-growth sectors in the EU economy with the potential of creating 1.3 million new jobs in the next five years.

The questions which spring to mind when reading these interesting studies are: How well are we preparing ourselves to exploit the potential benefits which are bound to accrue from the forecast growth in tourism in Europe?

Sadly, I must admit, the answer is that not only are we not improving our competitiveness in this important sector of our economy, but are probably eradicating the few competitive advantages we have been taking for granted for so long.

The Lisbon Council report depicts a very concise yet clear picture of how tourism in Europe is likely to evolve in the next few years: "Travellers (are) demanding much greater 'product differentiation' in the holiday experience: more personalised holidays, breaks tailored to specific hobbies and interests, more short-break offerings, activity and spa holidays, etc."

Learning from us

Our experienced private entrepreneurs have invested their money to create these facilities that are in demand by today's sophisticated traveller. But most of this good work is being ruined by short-sighted policies that are spoiling the general environment of our islands as a holiday destination. Others are being told to learn from us, by not inflicting on themselves the harm that we have done to our islands.

"The lesson that Mediterranean island economies must learn from the cases of Malta and the Balearics is that special attention must be given to the environment, without overlooking all the other factors that determine the quality of a tourism product, such as skilled labour and the development of a Regional Innovation System: a basic tool in the training of human capital and, by extension, in guaranteeing optimum productivity and competitive capacity."

This is stated in a report on 'The Recent Evolution and Impact of Tourism in the Mediterranean: The Case of Island Regions, 1990-2002' prepared by Carles Manera and Jaume Garau Taberner of the University of the Balearic Islands and published in August 2006.

This study shows how Maltese tourism has been declining for a number of years while it has been expanding in nearby islands, among them Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia which "show lower levels of population congestion and overdevelopment than Malta and the Balearics".

This study also reveals that both Malta and the Balearics "show symptoms of a structural incapacity to attract tourists from new issuing markets. The drop in the number of overnight stays, shrinking tourist expenditure and the reduction of the average length of stay are all proof of this. The deterioration of the environment and difficulty in competing through prices both hinder the exportation of tourism services."

Sea of mediocrity

We risk having islands of excellence in the form of top-notch facilities in a sea of mediocrity characterised by ugly high-rise buildings in what used to be traditional residential areas. Generally high levels of cleanliness in our hotels, restaurants and other facilities frequented by tourists are ruined by the shabbiness and dirt which pollutes our public areas.

We need to stop the rot if we want to keep pace with other new EU countries which are determined to take their share of the growing tourism industry. For too long the government's management of this important industry has been mediocre at best and outright incompetent at worst.

No wonder the operators in this industry are clamouring for change. Not only is Dr Gonzi unable to bring about this change, but he also seems to have his hands so well tied that he does not event dare change those in his cabinet responsible for managing this sector.

Tourism is a dynamic industry. We seem to be living in a time warp wrongly assuming that the tools we used 20 years ago to reap success are still useful today. More tragically, we assume that this industry is immune to our own careless and senseless decisions. We do not realise that we are slowly but surely killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. That is why a change in government is so badly needed.

evaristbartolo@hotmail.com