Auditing the Malta brand
For the million or so tourists that visit our island for their holidays every year, Malta is a brand that in many ways is similar to other brands that they are familiar with. For us who live here, Malta is a unique brand because it also happens to be...
For the million or so tourists that visit our island for their holidays every year, Malta is a brand that in many ways is similar to other brands that they are familiar with. For us who live here, Malta is a unique brand because it also happens to be the place where most of us will spend the rest or our lives.
With our tourism industry facing very challenging times, it is perhaps time to audit what this brand promises to those who are encouraged to choose our country as a destination for their holidays. We also need to assess honestly whether we are generally delivering on these promises. Only in this way can we know whether we are really adopting the right strategies to ensure that this important industry continues to deliver economic wealth.
The deliverables of the brand promise associated with Malta can be identified in the way we market over country through our marketing campaigns, advertising, and the anecdotal feedback that potential visitors gain from previous visitors to our island. The internet has made such research quite easy to conduct and it is a fact that most tourists today consult travellers' websites before they decide where to spend their hard-earned cash.
We have traditionally sold Malta as a pleasant, warm Mediterranean country with vast historical interests, friendly people, a laid-back lifestyle, and a cost of living that is significantly lower than most other European holiday destinations. Our advertising campaigns throughout the years play on a variation of these elements and I have no doubt that this is what most visitors expect to find when they visit our islands.
The crux of the matter, of course, is whether we are delivering on these promises. We need to approach this question with clinical discipline. Our own impressions are not good enough. We need to survey regularly those who visit us to determine objectively whether they agree that this is what they find in Malta when they visit us.
We also need to be cruelly honest with ourselves when it comes to determining what our weaknesses are. Even if we have become used to living with certain unpleasant realities, we must not expect our visitors to put up with these realities when we know that they have the option of visiting other places where these realities are less jarring.
What I have in mind is the way we have mistreated our natural environment. A short visit to our countryside, i.e. the little that is left of it, is enough to make us realise why so many visitors find our island increasingly unattractive. Were it not for the lovely sea that surrounds us, we would indeed have little to offer to visitors in the way of natural beauty - not because we do not have such beauty spots, but because we have been too careless in the past to keep these spots in pristine condition.
The way we go about our day-to-day business also calls for a critical scrutiny to determine whether this is a cause of concern to our visitors. We still seem to be insensitive to maintaining high standards in certain services that are of special interest to tourists. Just look at our public transport system, our steadily deteriorating road network, our lack of basic facilities on beaches and other sites frequented by tourists.
As to delivering value for money, an honest audit on whether we are delivering the best possible value will most likely reveal that we are not. We are not in the same league, as far as the tourist product is concerned, as the Costa Smeralda or the south of France. Yet, when one looks at the prices of some of our tourist-related services, the difference in prices with those charged in these elite destination is not all that marked.
The time has come for a reality check because tourism is too important to let it sink into a slow but certain decline simply because we are too complacent. This industry is in as much need of restructuring as all the other industries that have underperformed in the last several years.
I fear that the problems being faced by this sector are not so much related to the current global economic slump, but the result of years of taking this industry for granted. New players are crowding the holiday market as everyone realises the enormous economic benefits of selling dream holidays. These players are determined to make up for lost time by putting quality at the forefront of their strategy for growing their tourism industry.
It is up to each one of us to be honest with ourselves. We need to be self-critical, not because of any intellectually masochistic traits, but because we want the best for our country, even if this means acknowledging that we need to get rid of some spots and warts that are disfiguring our lovely island.
With our tourism industry facing very challenging times, it is perhaps time to audit what this brand promises to those who are encouraged to choose our country as a destination for their holidays. We also need to assess honestly whether we are generally delivering on these promises. Only in this way can we know whether we are really adopting the right strategies to ensure that this important industry continues to deliver economic wealth.
The deliverables of the brand promise associated with Malta can be identified in the way we market over country through our marketing campaigns, advertising, and the anecdotal feedback that potential visitors gain from previous visitors to our island. The internet has made such research quite easy to conduct and it is a fact that most tourists today consult travellers' websites before they decide where to spend their hard-earned cash.
We have traditionally sold Malta as a pleasant, warm Mediterranean country with vast historical interests, friendly people, a laid-back lifestyle, and a cost of living that is significantly lower than most other European holiday destinations. Our advertising campaigns throughout the years play on a variation of these elements and I have no doubt that this is what most visitors expect to find when they visit our islands.
The crux of the matter, of course, is whether we are delivering on these promises. We need to approach this question with clinical discipline. Our own impressions are not good enough. We need to survey regularly those who visit us to determine objectively whether they agree that this is what they find in Malta when they visit us.
We also need to be cruelly honest with ourselves when it comes to determining what our weaknesses are. Even if we have become used to living with certain unpleasant realities, we must not expect our visitors to put up with these realities when we know that they have the option of visiting other places where these realities are less jarring.
What I have in mind is the way we have mistreated our natural environment. A short visit to our countryside, i.e. the little that is left of it, is enough to make us realise why so many visitors find our island increasingly unattractive. Were it not for the lovely sea that surrounds us, we would indeed have little to offer to visitors in the way of natural beauty - not because we do not have such beauty spots, but because we have been too careless in the past to keep these spots in pristine condition.
The way we go about our day-to-day business also calls for a critical scrutiny to determine whether this is a cause of concern to our visitors. We still seem to be insensitive to maintaining high standards in certain services that are of special interest to tourists. Just look at our public transport system, our steadily deteriorating road network, our lack of basic facilities on beaches and other sites frequented by tourists.
As to delivering value for money, an honest audit on whether we are delivering the best possible value will most likely reveal that we are not. We are not in the same league, as far as the tourist product is concerned, as the Costa Smeralda or the south of France. Yet, when one looks at the prices of some of our tourist-related services, the difference in prices with those charged in these elite destination is not all that marked.
The time has come for a reality check because tourism is too important to let it sink into a slow but certain decline simply because we are too complacent. This industry is in as much need of restructuring as all the other industries that have underperformed in the last several years.
I fear that the problems being faced by this sector are not so much related to the current global economic slump, but the result of years of taking this industry for granted. New players are crowding the holiday market as everyone realises the enormous economic benefits of selling dream holidays. These players are determined to make up for lost time by putting quality at the forefront of their strategy for growing their tourism industry.
It is up to each one of us to be honest with ourselves. We need to be self-critical, not because of any intellectually masochistic traits, but because we want the best for our country, even if this means acknowledging that we need to get rid of some spots and warts that are disfiguring our lovely island.