A consultative committee has been set up to draw up a strategy for tourism that should take the country to 2020.

Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis told a news conference that while the Tourism Policy 2012 - 2016 had borne results, revisions were needed because the industry was a volatile one.

The committee includes people from various tourism fields including Air Malta. It will consult stakeholders until January for the strategy to be issued in March.

Consultations will consider capacity in peak months, the use of digital media in marketing, eco and sustainable tourism, cooperation between the Malta Tourism Authority and Air Malta in terms of route development and training.

Dr Zammit Lewis noted that tourism contributed 29 per cent of the gross domestic product and while the government wanted to focus on non-EU source markets, it also needed to take care of UK, Italy and Germany, from where the largest number of tourists to Malta came.

He said when asked that the new Malta Tourism Authority board had been appointed and Gavin Gulia and Josef Formosa Gauci, chairman and CEO respectively, were retaining their positions.

Asked whether the government was considering capping tourism arrivals following the Malta Hotels and Restaurant Association’s call to define a maximum carrying capacity,he said he was not seeing the need for this at this stage but the committee would be discussing capacity in peak months.

MHRA president Paul Bugeja the MHRA’s proposal was to learn what the carrying capacity and see whether there were limiting factors.