Maltese spend double the amount of money foreign tourists do when visiting Gozo, according to the Gozo Tourism Association.
Speaking during a business breakfast to mark World Tourism Day, GTA head Joseph Muscat said research it had conducted showed that Maltese visitors spent around €45 every day on Gozo.
International tourists, on the other hand, only spent around €25.
Insisting the island had more to offer, Mr Muscat called for a holistic plan which took different spending into consideration.
“Many of those visiting Gozo are doing so because it offers something different. We need to capitalise on this and maximise Gozo’s potential,” he said.
Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis shared the sentiment, saying the government was looking at ways to improve Gozo’s tourism product.
Maltese spend around €45 every day; foreigners only spend around €25
He said two thirds of the two million tourists who stayed in Malta last year had also crossed the channel. This was a six per cent increase over 2013.
A panel discussion on Gozo tourism between the GTA, the Tourism Ministry and an Italian-Gozitan tourism blogger focused on the importance of turning Gozo into “a destination in its own right”.
The panel recognised the need for a cultural calendar, which attracted more visitors to the island. Mr Muscat said this was particularly important for Gozo as its economy was 50 per cent more dependent on tourism than Malta.
The bulk of the panel discussions focused on whether the island should try and attract “quality tourists” or a greater quantity of visitors.
The general consensus from the panels and the floor was that Malta’s infrastructure could not take much more arrivals than hosted at present.
Island Hotels CEO Simon Naudi, however, argued that the island could indeed take more tourists.
“Increased arrivals can be sustained through attracting higher quality tourists. Those that stay for shorter periods but spend more on average,” he said.
Weighing in, Dr Zammit Lewis said the island was already outstripping its Mediterranean neighbours, which were registering a smaller growth in arrivals than Malta’s 5.3 per cent.
A panel on cultural tourism discussed moving away from “traditional” definitions of culture, such as theatre and museums, and promoting the island’s “everyday life” instead.
“Many tourists want to see what it means to live like the Maltese. This is an emerging part of cultural tourism which we need to work on,” artist Kenneth Zammit Tabona said.
The final panel discussion focused on the cruise liner industry.
Dr Zammit Lewis said arrivals so far this year had increased by more than a third over the same period in 2014.
He said 117 cruise liners with an average of 1,931 passengers per vessel had arrived in Malta since January. Around 640,000 cruise passengers are expected to visit Malta this year.