Embrace low-cost travel and support cruise industry, MEP says

Drawing on Malta's recent experience, Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil singled out access to low-cost travel and the cruise liner industry as key tools for stable and sustainable growth in tourism.

Dr Busuttil was addressing a conference organised by the Tourism Intergroup of the European Parliament, which is led by leading French MEP Margie Sudre. The conference was also addressed by speakers from the EU presidency, the European Commission and by the CEO of the European tourism body, Hotrec.

On low-cost travel Dr Busuttil explained that soon after EU membership Malta witnessed a slump in the number of tourist arrivals and needed a new impetus that could turn the situation around.

Although everything pointed to low-cost carriers as a possible option, Malta initially resisted the low-cost phenomenon and took a somewhat protectionist view.

Nevertheless, once it embraced low-cost travel - opening the door to a number of low-cost airlines rather than relying on just one - tourist arrivals surged and figures now speak for themselves.

An analysis of the figures indicated that low-cost flights could also help establish Malta's sister island, Gozo, as a destination in its own right.

Turning to the cruise liner industry, Dr Busuttil said that, despite many predictions that this sector had no future if Malta joined the EU, the industry has flourished.

Referring to cruise liner passenger statistics, he noted the slump in arrivals in 2004, which he attributed to uncertainty ahead of membership. But this was quickly followed by a steady growth from 2005 onwards.

Nevertheless, Dr Busuttil emphasised that the EU had to do much more to support the cruise liner industry and to see to its needs, as European ports face stiff competition from non-EU destinations both in Europe and beyond. He mentioned the EU approach to taxation as an example of how the sector could be further supported.

"If the cruise liner industry requires us to provide a special tax regime, then we should just do it if we want the industry to stay in Europe," he argued.

Concluding, he said Malta is a successful model of a new EU member state with a healthy growth in tourism. As an EU member, Malta was attracting unprecedented exposure and reaping the benefits of being "discovered".

However, things do not happen by coincidence and exposure had to be accompanied with a proactive tourism policy and the need to face up to challenges in order to retain and, possibly, increase market share in a fiercely competitive sector.