Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis wrote an article this week reminding us to aim for a sustainable tourism industry. Nobody would argue with the importance of this sector to Malta’s economy, and the need for it to be sustained in the future.
A workforce with good training and a high educational standard is essential to remain competitive. Young people seeking careers in tourism-related areas must be provided with opportunities and facilities to study and gain qualifications in this crucial sector.
In February the Prime Minister attended a press conference about the Institute for Tourism Studies site in St George’s Bay, where it was again mentioned that ITS will be moved to a new campus in Smart City. This plan had already surfaced a year earlier. The Times of Malta has now revealed that ITS is obliged to vacate these premises by September. This building is conveniently located in a tourism area, although it badly requires refurbishment.
It is not unreasonable to have expected that press event to focus on government plans for the new ITS campus. It is a major project. From €54 million, the projected investment in this new campus has already shot up to €75 million. Besides the usual classrooms, the tourism institute also requires catering and other equipment, and one would hope that state-of-the-art facilities are being planned. Investing in the training and education of tourism workers is a positive move.
But at the press conference the Prime Minister did not focus on plans for ITS together with the ministers responsible for tourism and education. Instead, Joseph Muscat launched the private project at St George’s Bay of entrepreneur Silvio Debono who, by his own admission, gives substantial donations to political parties and seems to expect favours in return.
It is impossible for the new campus to be ready for next academic year. If ITS is obliged to move out by September, to make way for Debono’s project, it must use temporary facilities until the Smart City project is completed. But until this week the temporary site had not yet been announced, and staff and students have had to live with the uncertainty of not knowing where they will be located next year.
Private gain took priority over the well-being of students training to work in tourism, a main generator of employment and driving force of our economy
One can only conclude that the needs of ITS were considered as an afterthought. The main focus of this deal was handing a prime site to a private developer, giving away public land at controversially low prices. Private gain took priority over the well-being of students training to work in tourism, a main generator of employment and driving force of our economy.
According to reports, while the ITS falls within the remit of the Tourism Minister, the deal with Debono was handled by the Office of the Prime Minister under the guidance of Minister without Portfolio Konrad Mizzi.
The National Audit Office has been asked by the Opposition to review the deal. Can Mizzi get one straight for a change? From energy to health to tourism, his deals are shrouded in dark clouds of controversy and suspicion. This is not helped by last year’s revelation that soon after being appointed Cabinet minister he set up a complex and secretive financial structure in Panama in which to channel his personal funds.
The UN has declared 2017 to be the ‘International Year of Sustainable Tourism’. In Zammit Lewis’s words, this means an “industry committed to ensure that its impact on the environment and local culture is minimal”. He admits that the tourism industry is having “a direct impact on our infrastructure” as well as on “our distinct heritage”. He stresses the need to shift to “less carbon intensive transport”.
Zammit Lewis should perhaps explain how the building boom we are witnessing, including high-rise projects such as Debono’s proposals for the ITS site, will ensure that the impact of tourism on our environment and infrastructure is “minimal”. There is no way that the existing public transport and road network can cater for the increase in traffic envisaged in the government’s draft master plan for Paceville, which includes the ITS site.
The relocation of ITS to Smart City also has an impact which must be factored in. It is projected that this new campus will generate increased traffic of an average of 6,700 daily trips to the area and may lead to the take-up of substantial land for the creation of a new road.
If the tourism sector is to clean up its act and minimise its impact on the environment, education is an essential tool. For tourism workers to become more sensitive to environmental and heritage concerns, they must first understand what they are. Tourism students must learn about and feel confident to act upon environmental pressures and potential solutions. Personal behaviour patterns also weigh in.
Zammit Lewis may be aiming to ‘green’ a sustainable tourism industry, but this will not succeed unless it is built into the educational system. Tourism studies is a crucial building block for this. Focusing on the needs of the staff and students of ITS should have been the government’s top priority, and not an afterthought.
petracdingli@gmail.com