Tourism Minister Karmenu Vella told Parliament yesterday that Air Malta was still relevant and would continue to be a top priority as the country could not afford to lose its national airline.
In spite of the success story in terms of tourism figures, there was a need to reverse the strong shift of part-time employment back to full-time employment; 300 jobs had been lost between 2008 and 2012.
Tourism must be both sustained – making sure an investor reaped enough profits to re-invest – and sustainable, with tourism development accompanied by environment protection and not coming at the cost of future generations.
More investment needed to be channelled into attractions and not just into accommodation. The aquarium at Qawra was a case in point.
Mr Vella announced that a system of tourism police or wardens would be introduced, with special training to safeguard the interests not just of tourists but also of the Mal-tese taxpayer.
The role of the Government must be redefined as a facilitator more than a regulator. Bureaucracy in itself was very costly and it held back development.
Tourist spending was on the increase but how much of it was due to inflation? It was also to be seen how much of the money left the country. That figure, once 40 per cent, was now more like 60 to 65 per cent. Malta must increase its retention of tourism spending by offering more value added services.
He also spoke of the need to diversify both seasonally and market-wise.
The 600,000 passengers who had visited Malta on cruise liners in 2012 had been mostly due to home porting and fly-and-cruise.
But it had been found that the latter were being calculated twice: once when they flew into Malta and again when they landed to go back home.
The Malta Tourism Authority had gone for years without a marketing or advertising strategy after its former contract expired.
Aviation was key to the future of tourism, he said. But the sector had grown only organically, not in any organised or planned way.
There were conflicting projects in some areas of the airport and some projects had not yet been given a licence.
He said aviation needed to be better managed, in line with an aviation policy. The Department of Civil Aviation must be transformed into a Civil Aviation Authority and be more competitive with its foreign counterparts.