Tourism Minister Mario de Marco aims to build on 2011’s tourism records, despite anticipated hurdles such as the eurozone crisis.
The country cannot continue relying on the June-September period for tourism
Dr de Marco was speaking to The Sunday Times in the wake of an “extremely positive year for the tourism industry”, as confirmed by official National Statistics Office (NSO) figures.
The final figures for 2011 showed that 1.41 million tourists (75,000 increase over 2010) spent 11.7 million nights in Malta and spent €1.23 billion – injecting an additional €100 million in the country’s coffers. All three figures surpassed previous achievements.
Dr de Marco said that given the difficult economic scenario in Europe, especially among eurozone members, fewer Europeans were expected to fork out their hard-earned cash to travel.
He said it was important to continue advertising heavily and to strengthen the co-operation with tourism operators to consolidate last year’s positive results.
The minister said Malta had direct links with 75 airports, up from the 45 in 2006. However, accessibility was still a major challenge this year.
He noted that a new flight connection between Toulouse and Malta, starting in April, increased frequency by Lufthansa from Munich and Frankfurt, as well as flights by Air Berlin from Stuttgart, Nuremburg, Cologne and Munich would improve links to Malta.
However, Malta Tourism Authority marketing campaigns were focused on increasing the load factor of airlines flying to Malta.
While seat capacity was decreasing, load factors were on the increase, up to 76 per cent from a figure of 71 per cent the previous year.
Moreover, efforts are needed to continue improving tourism results for the shoulder months because the peak season was quickly reaching saturation point and the country could not continue relying on the June to September period.
One way of doing this, he said, was to diversify the product and concentrate on niche markets which could attract particular visits to the island.
As an example he mentioned the restoration work currently being carried out on a 16th century palazzo in Vittoriosa, which is being converted into a boutique hotel. Although it will have just five rooms, such accommodation is what certain potential tourists are after when choosing their holiday destination, he said.
The Grand Harbour region has several of these high-potential residences, which could add to the quality accommodation Malta could offer visitors.
The NSO statistics showed an increase of 5.6 per cent in arrivals, including increases from the UK, Italy and Germany.
A total of 85 per cent of visitors came from the EU but non-EU tourists still increased by 17 per cent over the previous year.