Ivan Camilleri, Brussels
Malta takes hardest knock of all in last four months of 2008
Malta had the worst drop in tourism figures in the EU during the last trimester of 2008, according to statistics released by Eurostat.
The figures show that the number of nights tourists spent in hotels and similar establishments in Malta between September and December dropped by 8.7 per cent compared to the same period of 2007.
Similar significant decreases, although to a lesser extent, were seen in Ireland (-7.5 per cent) and Cyprus (-6.9 per cent). The EU average drop was of 3.2 per cent.
Although in the last four months of 2008, Malta's hotels were less busy than the year before, the situation was not much better in the other EU member states, which nearly all saw a drop with the exceptions of the Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
In line with statistics compiled by the local statistics office, Eurostat said Malta's first trimester was very good, registering a 5.6 per cent increase in hotel bed nights, one of the best results in the 27 member states. However trouble started brewing by May when Malta suffered a decrease of 1.5 per cent.
Overall in 2008, the number of nights spent in hotels and similar establishments in Malta by non-residents reached 7.5 million, a decrease of 1.5 per cent on 2007 and slightly more than the EU average of -1.1 per cent.
Eurostat said that the number of nights spent in hotels in 2008 grew in 14 and fell in 12 member states. The highest increases were recorded in Slovakia (7.7 per cent), Poland (4.7 per cent) and Latvia (4.6 per cent).
On the other hand the largest decreases were registered in Cyprus (-4.8 per cent), Greece (-4.6 per cent) and the Netherlands (-4.1 per cent).
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Miss M.Debono
Mar 13th 2009, 20:03
@steve elliot... are you serious, go on tell us you're joking, naturally you have never ventured further to say Turkey or even Cyprus or Greece or tip toeing through the tulips.
steve elliott
Mar 13th 2009, 09:36
if you love Malta you will come to Malta no matter what. You are paying for eliteness and originality, VIVA Malta ghall dejjem!!!
sandro grech
Mar 13th 2009, 09:25
From my experience in tourism Malta is far away from 5 star destination we are more of 3 star + . The Gov should encourage more for 3 star hotels because thats what we are , very few hotel staff do know 5 star service . The minister incharge of tourism should organise a small meeting with operaters hotel raps and get there positive and negative feedback of what their guest had to say . This is the latest feedback I had from 3 Irish tourist Gnejna bay beautiful beach but very DIRTY and the parker said that there is 3 Euros parking charge .
C A Camilleri
Mar 12th 2009, 15:56
Malta has not only become expensive to tourists alone but to locals as well. You can choose to go elewhere as tourists, Maltese are stuck on this over priced island.
susan thiirtle
Mar 12th 2009, 15:06
I wholeheartedly agree with the comments made by I&P Simmons,many British people have a real love for the Maltese Islands ,myself and my late husband included.But over the last couple of years prices have shot up ,and there comes a point when a big decision has to be made !!!!! Can we afford to return once again to lovely Malta ?
Sadly now the answer appears to be NO in such a lot of cases.
I have been checking prices for the coming season and there is a steep increase ,even from last year .
Please do not tell me I don,t know what I am talking about ,we have travelled to Malta ,many times.
So once again ,it all comes down to over pricing,how many repeaters is Malta going to lose this year !!!!
A. Muscat
Mar 12th 2009, 12:15
We should consider looking east.
The other day it was reported that:
‘ MIA registered increases of 28.7% on the French market and 17.6% from the UAE” Tourism is the most important pillar in our economy’s survival and growth.
With current economy uncertainties and many countries swinging between recession and depression we need quality tourists that spend money. I think, a plane full of Saudi or Gulf tourists comes to Malta once a weeks equivalent to 7 to 10 planes full of tourists coming from any European destination on a daily base. Being an EU member ‘alone’ does not provide any economy stability to us. Indeed we need more (Quality) direct foreign investment from the Gulf region. After all our biggest ever investment is coming from Dubai-Smart city not from the EU. This fact should encourage us to tap investments opportunities from the Gulf. Taking a risk may be scary, but without risk... business life offers very few rewards.
Mr B J Simmons
Mar 12th 2009, 11:01
The two first comments below this article say it as it is.
I wrote a detailed letter about my recent experiences (in Feb) in Malta, however it seems that it was not deemed suitable for publication by this newspaper.
Keeping such comments and suggestions from the public is hardly a public service.
I know that little will change in Malta and if and when it does it could be too little too late.
People need to know what tourists think and how their holiday can be improved. If such letters are censored this cannot happen and the lovely people of Malta will continue to have to guess why the tourists don't come and what could easily be done to increase numbers.
It will be interesting to discover if this is published. My request to the Editor about what sensitive issues to avoid has remained unanswered.
I will NEVER make political comments as this is not my place, but I can comment on what tourists would like having visited over 20 times.
I hope The Times will lighten up and not 'protect' its readers from some real facts that may just help to increase tourist numbers.
Iris& Phil. Taylor
Mar 12th 2009, 10:37
We USED to come to Malta twice a year during of which one week was spent in Gozo, but when one compare prices in Malta to other european destination we found that we were getting ript off as yes someone mentioned restaurants etc., we are now getting a better deal in other countries, ie,Spain, Cyprus and also places like Greece and last but not least Turkey* and yes the islands are beautiful and worth visitng at least once but not at the prices the Maltese were charging us, so we had no alternative but to choose other destination and are now very happy to continue and skip Malta and Gozo altogether,maybe others got money to burn but we are pensioners and naturally in our case we want value for our pound which these days is streched to the limit and it will be a very long long time before i think in any road Malta will see any Britans if any in the coming months, so be prepared for the worse of 2009.
Ingrid Jones-cameron
Mar 12th 2009, 09:39
I am not at all surprised because the free market system of pricing never work and doesnt work in Malta. We have one of europe's lowest wage costs and yet we have some unexplaiable high prices in restaurants and other venues. Tourists are just intelligent people who are choosing vaLUE for their money by choosing more honest resorts after being ripped off in Malta. They come see and never come again.