Aid scheme to promote sustainable tourism announced
Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco this morning launched a €10m scheme through which grants will be given for private sector projects aimed at sustainable tourism.
He said that projects which would fall under this scheme were those promoting Malta’s cultural heritage, investment in environment-friendly measures, investment in marketing, the use of of ICT in tourism, product upgrades and investment in equipment
He said the grants would range from 30% to 50% of total project costs.
He suggested that small enterprises could group together for particular projects and submit a joint application.
The funds will be coming from EU structural funds.
Dr de Marco said no decision had been taken yet over whether NGOs would be able to apply individually for assistance, but they could apply in joint ventures with private companies.
Dr de Marco said the tourism industry was increasingly seeing a shift from the tour operator market to individual travel where tourists sought authentic experiences. Tourism, he said, could not continue growing at all costs and had to embrace Malta’s environment and cultural heritage, despite mistakes which may have been made in the past.
Applications open in February. Those seeking further details should write to tourismschemes.opm@gov.mt.
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Joseph V. Grech
Dec 11th 2008, 16:51
I believe this is a step in the right direction so well done to Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco. Seeing that the cash comes from the E. U. makes the scheme more acceptable...even though E.U. funding ultimately comes from our own pockets too, though in a roundabout way!
I have personally met tourists who came to Malta for a pittance - especially during the lean months. A Parisian couple last year stayed for an entire month...they kept telling me they wondered how the Qawra hotel where they stayed could afford the package which included Flights, H.B. rates, other services, which they enjoyed. I believe such packages can only be offered simply because the Maltese are subsidising a hefty percentage of tourism costs, such as utilities. That has to be stopped immediately.
I also think it is wrong to ask ''those seeking further details'' to write to ''tourismschemes.opm@gov.mt.'' Such an approach is unheard of nowadays and can hardly be what the E.U. would recommend, seeing that these are E.U. funds. Information should be more readily available to entrepreneurs. Why restrict communication in this way? Hopefully the lucky projects have not yet been selected. Or have they? I wonder.
H Dempster.
Dec 11th 2008, 11:04
Dr Mifsud Bonnici, it is useless sqaundering money on projects to attract tourism, it just wont work. Nowadays the only thing which attract sa tourist is economy. Over the years Malta has overpriced itself with the standard , normal , man in the street tourist. Just take a look at what type of tourist we are getting, the usual daytripper from the cruise liners, who dont spend 1 cent or the rubbish of students who share a can of coke between 3.. There is one thing to do and that is knock down our prices and smile, maybe they might start coming back, like the olden days.