Tourism: The secret of success

Europe and the rest of the world seem to be heading into challenging and tough times for both consumers and entrepreuneurs. This is evident in the news that is constantly coming through about the oil crisis, the cereals price hike and, now, the closures by many multinationals such as Starbucks in the US.

The economists are predicting a new recession. This is worrying news for any country bt it is indeed something of great concern for island states such as Malta and Gozo, which depend heavily on the services industry, especially tourism.

Tourism has already been proven to be a delicate and volatile activity: when we faced the problem of terrorism some six years ago; when the islands of the Indian Ocean were hit by a tsunami.

Likewise, the torusim industry can be badly affected if consumers start to feel the pinch back home and are start feeling insecure.

So what can we do to overcome these challenges?

Perhaps our biggest asset is not our human resources but our size. To many, small means not having the economies of scale to compete with the larger countries but then large countries inevitably have higher costs and massive marketing bills, even if many economists will argue that these costs are still less than those incurred by smaller states when they are calculated on a per capita basis. All well and good, but then larger countries still have a tough time to secure the huge figures they will meed to ensure that tourism is a sustainable industry.

On the other hand, smaller countries can focus on specific markets such as niche and relational tourism.

When we refer to our main asset as being our human resource we are not talking simply about having a professional and dedicated workforce as, indeed, we must ensure if we are to have a quality service and a competitive spirit but we must also have a nation that believes in the power and potential of real hospitality and innovation.

If we take as an example Malta and Gozo we can see how our dependence on huge numbers of visitors has turned us from a hospitable and friendly people noted for their sincerity and friendly smile into a nation that considers "number crunching" to be more important than building a strong reputation.

So our first challenge is to break away from this purely commercial way of thinking and really put people first in tourism.

We need to understand the visitor who wants to come to Malta and Gozo.

We need to know that such people are not simply looking for fun and leisure in the larger resorts but that they are interested in the history, natural beauty and relaxing environment that these islands certainly abound in!

To ensure that we do reveal the secret of the island that was once dubbed a Gem In The Mediterranean and an Island Paradise we must see that our civic pride prevails in all that we do and say.

We have to be responsible citizens. We have to again create that sort of relationship with the tourist that earned us the reputation of being a friendly and hospitable nation. Above all, we have to be innovative. We are not competing with the larger countries that recieve between 30 and 50 million tourists a year but we can attract a select group of visitors out of the 500 million who visit the Meditteranean each year and who are interested in the social activities and the unique characteristics we can offer the visitor.

The hidden gem of these islands is within each town and village - the food, the festas, in the bars, the cafes and in the living history that cries out to be discovered throughout each locality.

What we need is to turn back the pages of time and look at what attracted visitors to the islands before sun and sea became staple food for many tourists. Resurrecting this unique selling proposition may be the vital clue to meeting the challenges of tourism in the near future.

To do this we must believe in ourselves, our islands and our potential and build on real hospitality and that living history we have all around us. It is not the stones that make history and attractions but the stories and the people that shaped those stones and wrote that history!

Mr Zarb is a tourism journalist, vice president of the European Union of Tourism Officers (EUTO) and president of the Malta Tourism Society.

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