The Opposition expressed concern that the post of tourism marketing director in three of Malta’s most important source countries was still vacant.

Nationalist party tourism spokesman Antoine Borg said the marketing director for the UK had stepped down recently. Also, the posts of marketing directors in France and Germany have been vacant for months.

When contacted, the Malta Tourism Authority’s former marketing director for the UK, Alex Incorvaja, confirmed he had completed his second three-year term this week and now decided to move on to new pastures.

The Opposition had been drawing the government’s attention about the matter for weeks, Mr Borg added.

He questioned why the posts in such important source markets had not been filled immediately when the government had moved quickly to appoint a friend of the Prime Minister’s wife to a €60,000 post in New York, even though the US accounted for only two per cent of tourist arrivals.

On the other hand, the European market accounted for about 80 per cent of all incoming tourists.

All marketing plans for this year for all feeder markets have been committed

Official data shows that out of more than 1.6 million tourists, excluding cruise line passengers, who visited Malta last year, 125,500 originated from France, 143,000 were Germans and nearly 488,000 came from the UK.

The PN urged the government to act immediately and make sure that competent people were appointed to promote Malta in important tourism markets and ensure positive results.

Asked for a reaction, the MTA chief executive officer, Paul Bugeja, said all overseas offices were fully manned and each business segment was covered by a senior executive in all major source markets.

“It is relevant to note that all marketing plans for this year for all feeder markets, in particular summer and winter, have been committed, set in motion and are well under way.

“Positive results are expected in line with results achieved to date,” he said.