The emphasis in Malta's tourism policy for 2012 to 2016 is on authenticity, both in terms of hotels and product, Tourism Minister Mario de Marco said this afternoon.
He was speaking during the launch of the policy at the Westin in St Julian's.
The new policy will be building and consolidating upon the previous one but in a different way, he said.
It biggest emphasis will be on sustainable and responsible tourism.
Dr deMarco said that while it was important to promote tourism, one could not have tourism at all costs. Social and environmental aims also had to be met.
Emphasis would be on tourism based on authenticity.
"We cannot expect to be something we are not. For many years we did not pay enough attention to what is truly Maltese," Dr de Marco said.
He said that the country needed to continue to invest in cultural heritage, history, and village cores. The country's tourist attractions were not just in Valletta, Rabat and the Cittadella (Gozo) – they were more widespread. There were many villages in Malta which had the characteristics to offer unique and authentic experience.
He said that more importance would be given to the countryside over the next four years, as this had never really been given any consideration. He noted that 13 per cent of Maltese territory was Natura 2000 sites.
There were four marine protected areas which also had to be given value.
Malta had to be more competitive by being innovative in its offer without losing its authenticity. He stressed the importance of Maltese food and noted that although the choice of restaurants had increased, authentic cuisine was not represented enough.
Dr de Marco said he wanted to see more boutique hotels in Palazzi and old houses for a more personalised experience that tourists were looking for.
He said that in terms of seasonality summer had reached its peak and it would be a mistake to try to increase that.
The minister said that the challenges of the next four years are different to those of previous four, when the emphasis had been on growth. This had been achieved with arrivals increasing from 1.1 million in 2006 to 1.4 million last year.
During the same period, night spent in Malta increased by almost a million and there were many other increases which showed a shift in trends in tourist spend.
The minister said that one of the targets of the policy of the past four years had been accessibility and this had been achieved with 45 scheduled routes and up to 81 destinations served. There were also big increases in arrivals from various markets.
He noted that arrival records were achieved in both April and May and the biggest number of passengers to ever use MIA in one month was reached in June.
"What we need now is a stronger competitive edge, higher value added, improved quality and the achievement of excellence in tourism," Dr de Marco said.