Accommodating English language students... Are we making the grade?

Everyone who is involved in some way with tourism marketing knows that the concept of creating niches is an important policy, especially, when the supply of tourists is forever being depleted through the opening up of new and more exotic destinations!

In Malta, we always seem to have a problem with finding our best market niche and specialisation - we try hard to offer a plethora of services including sun, sea, music, culture, history, conferences, and sports.

All these niches should attract a fair amount of our sustainable quota of tourism arrivals every year, but the question is: are we offering the right environment and services for each of these niches or are we trying to create a stereotyped package of services and products in an attempt to present a "one-size-fits-all" policy?

The niche market for English language teaching has been gaining momentum over the past few years. If we develop a sound policy and strategy to attract English language students to Malta and Gozo, there is great potential which can pay off in the future.

First of all, the students can be a direct source of marketing for us with their friends and families back home; if they have had a good experience during their stay on the islands then they may return again and there is the potential for creating new accommodation in non-traditional tourism areas, thus easing the pressure of congestion that leads to unsustainability.

Unfortunately, when it comes to providing accommodation for these students, instead of spreading the benefits and creating hospitality opportunities across a broad sector of society, they are being seen as an alternative solution to the dwindling occupancy levels in our hotels.

I think this idea of filling the vacant beds in our hotels with students is just one other way in which the tourism market looks for the easy approach to its strategic development without looking for innovative and new ways of seeking markets!

I suppose if this were a question of looking for alternatives during the shoulder period it may be acceptable, but to accept bookings from a market which has different needs and perceptions than the traditional tourism market during the peak season for travel and holidays is another way of accepting complete defeat in one's marketing strategies.

Many of these students do not have a clue what responsible tourism is all about and my first suggestion to those seeking to promote these islands for this market is that we insist that the stakeholders involved adopt a code of ethics based on the principles of responsible tourism and Community-based Tourism (CBT) that are clearly spelt out, and that any deviation or transgression of these ethics should be severely dealt with, with possible blacklisting of the culprits.

Ensuring that these students integrate with the local community without disrupting both our lifestyle and culture needs to be a priority.

Hosts, as well as tourists, have responsibilities, rights and obligations just like all other consumers and these obligations certainly include a respect for the culture and lifestyle of the destination one is visiting.

Itineraries and approved guides or assistants for the students must be screened to ensure that they have the competences necessary for providing the essential support services which will reduce the risk of unethical or rowdy behaviour by the students.

After several clashes with hooligans in Europe over the past years UEFA adopted a policy that that held the football clubs are responsible for their fans' actions. Perhaps we also need to hold the English language schools responsible for the actions of their clients in this regard.

If we do not take this situation seriously, then we run the risk of losing our market share from other niche markets or from the mainstream tourism market.

Mr Zarb is a tourism journalist and media presenter and is also vice-president of EUTO and President of the Malta Tourism Society.