Restaurateurs were this morning urged to heed the changing trends of tourism and adjust their product and services accordingly.

Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco, speaking at a conference hosted by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, pointed out that Italy was now Malta's second tourism source market and Germany was the third. The expectations of the Italians and the Germans were different from the British, towards whom most restaurants were tailored, he said.

Indeed, tourists from different countries even tended to have their lunch and dinner at different times.

Dr de Marco said that by and large, the quality of restaurants had improved, but it had been noted from surveys, that tourists' satisfaction was higher in the winter than the summer, leading one to suspect that quality of service was deteriorating as patrons increased.

Many restaurants had invested heavily in their dining halls, Dr de Marco said, but was such growth always being matched in investment on service and in the kitchen? Was it acceptable that patrons waited more than 30 minutes for service?

He said that restaurateurs needed to keep their menus updated, and they also needed to offer more Maltese dishes. One could get Italian food all over the world, but Maltese food only in Malta.

Replying to a comment, Dr de Marco also insisted that prices should be competitive. Eating out was far cheaper in Malta than in a London restaurant, he said, but the difference in cost between Italy and Malta was narrowing. He agreed, however, that local restaurateurs had a problem in that turnover of patrons was lower.

MAJOR CONFERENCE IN AUGUST

Dr de Marco expressed cautious optimism about the outlook for tourism this year. He said that a major conference of 5,000 people was expected to be held in Malta in August. Another conference, of 1,000 delegates, would be held in March.

The drop in conference and incentive travel last year had been one of the major contributing factors for the drop in tourist arrivals.