English-language tourists who visited Malta last year were mostly over 18 and opted for a long-term course that was more academically oriented, a survey has shown.
The study, commissioned by the Federation of English Language Teaching Organisations Malta, showed that, in 2013, 35 per cent of students were under 18, compared to 25 per cent the previous year.
There was also a drop in students from Italy, Spain, France and Germany but higher arrivals from Russia, central Europe, Japan, South Korea and Brazil.
There is no room for complacency
These shifts – in the age, academic profile and nationality mix of students – led to a situation where, last year, the number of English-language tourists who visited Malta dropped but their length of stay grew when compared to 2012.
This emerges from the ELT Industry Report 2013, conducted by Deloitte, which was presented yesterday.
“Results show we are getting new markets on board. People are coming from more distant destinations, staying longer and we have older people who are giving more academic reasons for coming here. The academic product should benefit from this,” Deloitte’s David Bonnet said.
Survey results showed that the number of student arrivals decreased by 8.4 per cent in 2013 while the average length of stay increased by 12.8 per cent.
These changes resulted in a 6.6 per cent drop in the average weekly revenue. Accordingly, estimated revenue for the industry stood at 3.5 per cent, down on 2012, notwithstanding a 3.3 per cent increase in student weeks, Mr Bonnet noted.
He added that this “mixed pack of results” suggested an element of investment was needed by the industry to adapt to market trends. One had to first wait and see whether this was a one-off or a recurring trend.
Feltom’s chief executive, Genevieve Abela, said the federation continued to work closely with the Malta Tourism Authority to improve the way Malta was marketed as an ELT destination.
“Focusing on the adult student market and the English-for-specific-purposes niche markets, Feltom is leading the way in charting the future for the Maltese TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) sector.
“Feltom is working on promoting Malta in new source markets, particularly Asia, the Middle East and South America, and the initial feedback has been encouraging,” she said.
Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said he was generally satisfied with the performance of the sector but “there is no room for complacency”.
“We want you to help us improve proficiency in English and, for the first time, we will be partnering with you in a private-public partnership to train teachers to make our children more proficient in English,” he said.
Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said the report showed that 2013 proved to be a challenging year and that issues raised had to be addressed with “serious coordination”. Malta had to focus aggressively on the new markets that had to be addressed, he said.