The challenge Malta and other destinations are facing in tourism is to strike a balance between attracting a slice of the growing low-cost airline segment without irreversibly damaging the delicate relations that underpin the industry, according to Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech.

"It is a challenge of handling a revolution in an evolutionary manner," he said at a conference entitled New Developments In Transnational Companies In Travel, Transport And Tourism: Restructuring And Competitiveness.

"One lesson we and other tourism destinations have learnt is that one should avoid over dependence on one type of business.

"Our marketing policy is based on seven different niches, tapping different source markets. It is backed by a programme of continuous product development to support these marketing efforts," the minister said.

Malta's aim, he said, was to ensure an attractive level playing field for all partners who wished to do business with the country.

Low-cost airlines, he observed, had quickened the rate of change in the industry.

Banking on the fact that travelling is a necessary, expensive chore, making use of the power of IT and entering the market at a time when other players were downsizing their operations, low-cost airlines had developed a formula which appealed to the consumer and attracted much of the existing demand while creating a measure of new demand.

At a time when every other player seemed to be going down, low-cost airlines "defied gravity" as their profits grew year on year. "Conscious of their strength, they have become price setters in the industry supply chain," said Dr Zammit Dimech.

The conference was organised by the European Trade Union Committee on tourism in collaboration with the General Workers' Union hospitality and food section.