Photo: Paul Spiteri Lucas

Over the past months and ever since I took over the tourism portfolio, I am consistently noting that the provision of quality is increasingly becoming the determining success factor for tourism and that this will be highly influential on travel behaviour in the future. As I have stated in other contributions on the subject, consumers are increasingly becoming sophisticated and self-assured regarding their rights and this will result in a more critical attitude towards the provision of quality, and rightly so.

Achieving customer satisfaction also means providing value for money and this involves a wide range of services and products. Therefore, quality standards need to permeate every aspect of the tourism experience.

This calls for a commitment by all those involved in tourism and a concerted effort to improve the level of quality across all its dimensions. This is a tough challenge that we, all together, have to overcome.

The government is committed to doing its part but this calls for a multipronged approach that, among other things, includes the revision of legislation, investment and deployment of resources and a multitude of efforts involving various parties.

We have been taking a number of initiatives to achieve this objective. These include the formulation of a ‘Tourism Vision for 2030’ and a new tourism policy for 2015-2020. For this purpose, I also appointed a consultative council to assist and direct me in the process.

The overarching principle for tourism development in the future hinges on the provision of quality across the destination because the issue of the relationship between volume growth and value growth is becoming increasingly important. The tourism policy review will identify ways how this can be achieved and articulate the initiatives that need to be undertaken through the parties involved.

Another initiative the Ministry for Tourism has undertaken concerns tourism zones.

Quality standards need to permeate every aspect of the tourism experience

These call for improved environmental standards across all levels and it is not just a matter of improved cleanliness and better upkeep, which are also very important, but there is also the issue of the visual quality of certain parts of tourism zones. This could be the result of intrinsically poor architectural designs or buildings left in shell form or unused and abandoned buildings, all of which degrade streetscapes.

The urban environment around hotels, restaurants and other tourism attractions impinges on the overall experience of our visitors. These issues, among others, are a tall order but must be addressed if we are to improve the quality of visitors’ experience.

The ministry has appointed a Tourism Zones National Committee made up of representatives of government entities, local councils and the commercial sector. Since its appointment earlier this year, the committee, with the assistance of the Ministry of Transport and the Infrastructure, concentrated on improving the level of cleanliness and general upkeep. I am now working to transform this committee into a permanent structure with very clear terms of reference and the allocation of adequate resources for it to be even more effective in its role.

The government has also embarked on a number of infrastructural and environmental projects that will raise the level of quality of the visitors’ experience. These include the coast road, which will improve commuting and vehicular traffic, the restoration of a number of historic sites, such as the Cospicua project, and many others.

The private sector is also doing its part as it is a main protagonist in the transmission of quality in tourism. This calls for economic stability and the right environment for investment supported by an efficient legislative framework that can stimulate further development and, last but not least, the allocation of disposal capital.

The government is supporting this in different ways, including a revision of legislation, a process to cut down on excessive bureaucracy and red tape and the introduction of effective schemes, such as a height limitation adjustment policy aimed at hotels’ development.

Why were hotels specially targeted through this new policy? Hotels are very important to the economy by virtue of the contribution they make to the country’s foreign revenue and the employment they generate. This scheme can improve the economies of scale of hotels and make way for investment that otherwise may not take place while meeting the demands for quality accommodation and improved facilities. This will also improve the product and raise our competitiveness level.

The scheme is designed to achieve quality and it dictates that any proposed hotel building must be of the highest quality both architecturally and in finishes.

At an operational level, all hotels are also required to apply for an environmental permit or certification as applicable, aiming to improve the environmental performance of the hotel at various levels. All proposals will be evaluated by the Malta Tourism Authority within the overall and comprehensive context of the tourism policy. Proposed extensions shall not be acceptable unless the applicant is prepared to invest in the refurbishment and upgrading of the existing property if the MTA feels a revamp is required.

The applicant will also need to demonstrate that the proposed extension constitutes an overall improvement of the existing accommodation product and that the scale and nature of the proposed development will not compromise or devalue the experience of hotel guests.

This is just one initiative that shall contribute to the improvement of the level of quality; others include the launching of a national quality label for restaurants. We also aim to achieve quality through training programmes for both management and staff because we need to step up our efforts to improve the professional skills of workers in the sector.

I am conscious that environmental awareness, both among the Maltese as the host population and tourists themselves, will continue to increase.

This will give rise to the demand for sustainable destinations and, in this regard, we are formulating long-term policies based on a sustainable tourism development framework as this is considered to be the basis of quality experiences.

Top-notch quality service significantly matters for tourism as, in turn, it influences present and future travel choices. A high-level reputation in quality is a ‘must’ for the Maltese islands as we need to provide tourists with the right mix of experiences and a good taste of our cultural wealth, heritage and hospitality.

Edward Zammit Lewis is Minister for Tourism.