Almost 98 per cent of all arrivals to Malta reach the country by air, highlighting the fundamental need to protect and develop the country’s connectivity.
Opening the parliamentary debate on the Malta Tourism Authority’s 2016 estimates, Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said that discussions with three new European airlines were underway to start operating flights towards Malta.
This year’s estimates proposed a €2.7 million increase in route development investment, over the €20 million spent in 2015.
The Tourism Minister insisted that route development programmes should tie in with the efforts seeking to reduce seasonality, where success was already being registered.
In fact, last year’s largest arrival increases were registered during the first and last quarters, followed by an 11 per cent increase during the first three months of the current year.
“The national consensus to strengthen tourism is a key element of this industry’s success,” Opposition tourism spokesman Antoine Borg said.
It’s not right that a catering establishment had to compete with clubs operating solely on a licence issued by the Police Commissioner
He welcomed the record 1.8 million tourist arrivals last year, an increase of close to six per cent over 2014.
Mr Borg added that one should bear in mind that the geo-political challenges being faced by some of Malta’s neighbouring competitors would end someday.
Thus, one should be prudent to use the current successes to lay stronger foundations for the future. In this regard he proposed the use of European funds, noting that according the MTA’s financial statements these were not sufficiently tapped into by the Authority during last year.
Both sides of the House agreed on a “constant effort” towards continuous product development, where “a lot has still be done”.
The minister announced that extensive legislative reform was being prepared so that MTA becomes one-stop shop, doing away with the existing host of regulatory entities.
One of the goals of this reform was to place all establishments on a level playing field.
“It’s not right that a catering establishment, shouldering the full regulatory burden, had to compete with clubs operating solely on a licence issued by the Police Commissioner,” Dr Zammit Lewis said. He concluded by thanking the employees of the authority and the stakeholders.
The MTA’s estimates were approved after a division.