This week the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association called for a new strategic plan for the tourism sector (please do not call it industry, as the word has a different meaning) and suggested the setting of a maximum carrying capacity for Malta. There is no doubt in my mind that an update of the current strategy is required, as we have consistently improved on our past performance in this sector. Hence the strategy requires updating because of our own success.
The call for the setting of a maximum carrying capacity is not new for Malta. Thankfully it was never heeded in the past; but the time may have come for it to be heeded. I write that thankfully it has not been heeded, because otherwise we would not be experiencing the surge in arrivals that we have experienced over a 30-year period (with some downturns, but never too dramatic).
There was a time when hoteliers (not MHRA) asked the government to stop issuing hotel licences. The government (mainly in the person of former minister Michael Refalo) did not listen to that request and the strategy followed by the policy-makers of the time paid its dividends.
The fortunes of Air Malta and Malta’s tourism sector are inextricably linked
The tourism sector today looks so different to what it looked like in the late 1980s, after its recovery from the disastrous situation it had found itself in during the first half of that decade. The element of diversification that was called for then is very much present in today’s tourism sector, but the challenges that we are facing today are different to the challenges that we have faced over the years.
The tourism policy developed in 2011 was based on the premise that this sector needs to remain a driver for sustainable development. This is exactly in line with MHRA’s call.
It asks the government to keep the tourism sector as a key factor in the deve-lopment of the country’s policies and programmes. The MHRA also asked the government to focus on the need to enhance awareness of Malta as a premier tourist destination, to facilitate ease of access, to encourage product development and investments and to foster an adequate supply of skills.
The key word, even in this regard, is sustainability. What we have achieved so far is not enough; we need to ensure that this carries on in the foreseeable future. From an economic viewpoint this is more than understandable, as investments in the tourism sector tend to have a long payback period, and unless we have sustainability, those investments will generate negative returns.
The detail of MHRA’s proposals needs to be taken note of. For example, the reference to enhancing awareness of Malta as a premier destination is very significant. Using airline jargon, this means that we need to move from the superior economy class that we are in today to business class. Once this is accepted as the appropriate strategy, the rest of MHRA’s proposals will follow naturally. There must be more investment, more product development and better quality of labour to become a premier destination.
In terms of ease of access, we must keep in mind the role of the national airline. I have always believed, since my days as chairman of Air Malta, that the fortunes of Air Malta and Malta’s tourism sector are inextricably linked. One cannot thrive without the other, no matter how hard certain tourism professionals have tried to provide arguments to the contrary.
This does not mean that the government should not be seeking a strategic partner for Air Malta. It means rather that the government must be seeking a strategic partner that shares our country’s vision for tourism.
A comment about the maximum carrying capacity of Malta. It needs to be stressed that such maximum carrying capacity is a function of several variables such as seasonality, average length of stay, product diversification, source markets, reason for visit, client expectations etc. It must not be seen in the context of the current profile of the tourism sector, but in the context of the expected profile resulting from the strategy that is developed.
I trust that the proposals of MHRA will initiate a serious debate on what Malta’s future tourism strategy should be. Such a strategy needs to transcend the political timeline of five years. It also needs to have an inbuilt flexibility to be able to take into account global and regional developments.