‘From lookers to bookers’

The Malta Tourism Authority has invested in a new web portal, malta.com, with more audiovisual material than text, and is currently working on better interaction with social networking in a bid to convert lookers to bookers.

Introducing the financial estimates of the authority, Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco said the work with the strongest sites has been paying dividends because since 2008 Malta has consistently been awarded or nominated among the most dynamic marketing destinations. The MTA itself had been voted the Best National Tourism Organisation.

Malta this year would be registering a fourth year of arrival records with almost 1.4 million. Adding the 565,000 cruise passengers would push the figure up to almost two million, or five for each Maltese. He wondered which other country could boast such a ratio of 5:1.

Visitors had spent a total of €1,000,200,000, most of which had remained in Malta. The bottom line was even more important than arrival figures, with the first 10 months of 2011 showing an increase of more than €88 million over last year.

Malta had kept its head up in spite of the increasing competition, with the MTA working along the lines of the National Policy on Tourism in consultation with the operators.

Dr de Marco said accessibility was essential to Malta. The 47 direct air routes in 2007 had grown to 75 in 2011. The authority had worked with both low-cost and legacy airlines, and helped the country to hold on to markets which would otherwise have suffered, such as Spain, Scandinavia, Ireland and Israel. New routes from Italy had seen that market double in volume to become Malta’s second biggest.

With arrivals in Malta increasing by an average of 60,000 per year, including more in winter, the seasonality problem had been broken. For almost eight months a year more than 100,000 were visiting Malta every month, allowing most hotels to stay open all year.

The MTA and Air Malta, which continued to transport more than 50 per cent of passengers to Malta and was needed to continue to be a pillar of the tourism industry, were inter-dependent. The sooner the national airline’s future could be secured, the better so that it could focus on its real job. But the aviation world was a ruthless one which had seen 39 carriers into oblivion since 2009.

In spite of a six per cent loss in seat capacity this summer, partly due to Air Malta’s reduction of its fleet by one aircraft, MTA had managed a 10 per cent improvement by working with all airlines to enhance load factors.

Dr de Marco said a quarter of the authority’s year-round advertising budget had been allocated to the internet, but traditional media were still being utilised. Yield from tour operator packages had shrunk from €410 million to €396 million, compensated by a “phenomenal” increase of €42 million in internet bookings for accommodation for which hoteliers did not need to pay any commissions.

The internet had also contributed an increase of €155 million in tourism spending to other industry sectors.

The MTA had also engaged in a vast public relations programme with some 500 foreign travel writers being invited to Malta.

With the economic and financial crises the conference and incentive sector had suffered, not least due to the events in North Africa. However, most pre-planned conferences were held.

The cruise liner sector registered an increase of 20,000 passengers over last year. An important development was TUI’s decision to use Malta as a home port.

Dr de Marco said the ministry’s advertising initiatives had served to attract seven new cruise-line operators for 2012. Seven cruise liners had visited Gozo this year, but 20 visits were already confirmed for next year.

At almost 39,000, hotel bedding capacity had remained relatively unchanged since 2007, while self-catering beds had gone from 5,300 to 6,300. The occupancy rate of Maltese hotels in the first eight months of the year was 70 per cent, second only to the UK.

Appropriate grants accorded €10 million for 50 per cent cover of projects for sustainable tourism, as well as three per cent for enhancement of technology.

Operating profit per room in 5-star hotels had gone from €2,897 in 2009 to €3,729 in 2011, or almost the same gross operating profits as in 2008 when the higher utility rates had not yet been introduced. Dr de Marco said that the subsidy policy therefore no longer made sense.

Much the same could be said for 4-star and 3-star hotels. He appealed to the latter to participate in available schemes to help cut costs.

Bed-nights had also increased by 380,000 over last year.

Over the past year the MTA had embarked on various projects to enhance the product to the tune of €20 million.

Some 670,000 tourists had spent a day in Gozo, with 8,000 spending at least one night there, 56,000 basing themselves in Gozo and 29,000 Maltese also visiting.

Collective accommodation in the first nine months of the year had increased by almost three per cent, but no clear picture was available for the 63 per cent of self-catering accommodation. Steps to enhance this sector of tourism were also starting to show results.

Concluding, Dr de Marco said that while the opposition still wanted to make tourism a pillar of the economy, which it already was, the government was intent on building new, stronger foundations for the industry.