Action in tourism

Marie Louise Coleiro-Preca (Action Not Words, September 10) was, to put it mildly, very selective in the way she quoted from The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum.

Her article may have given readers, most of whom, I am sure, did not read the 500-page plus report, the impression that Malta placed bottom of the class in a tourism benchmarking exercise. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The report, the full title of which is The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2008, Balancing Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability, analyses the performance of 130 countries. In the final ranking, Malta places in a credible 25th position, ahead of 12 other European Union countries, including two of our direct competitors, Italy and Croatia, and ahead of other competitor countries such as Tunisia, Turkey, Morocco, Israel and Egypt. Malta is practically at par with our most direct competitor Cyprus.

The report identifies areas which give Malta a competitive advantage and areas that are a disadvantage. The report is based on 2007 findings.

Incidentally, since March of this year environment and tourism are within the same ministerial portfolio, that of the Prime Minister. This is a clear demonstration that, in the government's mind, tourism and the environment are intrinsically linked. The future of one depends very much on the other. When commenting on the Nationalist government's commitment in this area, Mrs Coleiro-Preca was again very selective. She did not mention the proposed golf course in Xagħra l-Ħamra. Much as this project made sense from a tourism point of view, the environmental cost was too high to pay. The project was abandoned.

The opposition spokesman also talks about the way the MTA used to evaluate tourism development applications. The fact of the matter is that MTA and ministry officials today review all applications also from an environmental perspective.

In Mrs Coleiro-Preca's article there is no mention of the government spending over €300 million of European Union funds on environmental projects. Nor is there mention of the fact that the government launched two reform initiatives that will bring about far-reaching changes in Mepa and local government. One of the underlying reasons for these reform programmes is to ensure a more stringent and consistent application of environment regulations.

Actions indeed speak louder than words.