Two thirds of the two million tourists who stayed in Malta last year visited Gozo, Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said this morning.
Speaking during a business breakfast with industry leaders, Dr Zammit Lewis said a holistic plan was needed to market the sister island as a unique destination.
“Many of those visiting Gozo are doing so because it offers something different. We need to capitalise on this difference,” he said.
Dr Zammit Lewis added that the number of tourists visiting Gozo last year increased by six per cent over 2013.
A panel discussion on Gozo between the Gozo Tourism Association, the Tourism Ministry and an Italian-Gozitan tourism blogger, focused on the importance of turning Gozo into “a destination in its own right”.
GTA head Joseph Muscat said the island was still lacking a cultural calendar and needed a stronger identity. Maltese visitors to Gozo still spent nearly double than the international tourists who visited the island.
A cultural calendar, he said, was particularly important for Gozo as its economy was 50 per cent more dependent on tourism that Malta.
The bulk of the panel discussions focused on the issue of quality tourists over quantity, with the general consensus being that Malta’s infrastructure could not take much more arrivals.
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.
Dr Zammit Lewis said the island was outstripping its Mediterranean neighbours, which were registering a smaller growth in arrivals than Malta’s 5.3 per cent growth.
A panel discussion on cultural tourism discussed moving away from “traditional” definitions of culture, such as the theatre and museums, and bolstering the island’s “everyday life”.
“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.