A 5,000-delegate convention, the largest ever to be hosted by Malta, kicked off yesterday in a boost for tourism with an injection of about 35,000 bed nights in just over a week.
Organised by Swedish cosmetics company Oriflame, the official programme goes on until Saturday, filling around 13 five- and four-star hotels.
On Site Malta, the destination management company that has brought Oriflame’s annual Gold Conference to the island, has been in touch with it for three years, promoting Malta during a detailed presentation in Barcelona in 2008.
Previous editions of the conference were held in Rome, Barcelona and Greece. Malta is said to have fitted the brief because of its good weather and enough hotels to host its delegates. It was also considered receptive to the company’s “crazy ideas”, resulting from numbers, logistics and the fact that it is a sales conference that requires an element of “dynamism”.
Oriflame, which sells its products via word of mouth, has 3.3 million workers around the world.
Due to the size of the convention, meetings are being held at the Malta Fairs and Convention Centre in Ta’ Qali, while the welcome and gala dinners are being hosted on the Granaries in Floriana, where a state-of-the-art stage has been set up.
Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Mario de Marco had described the conference as “good news”, particularly after a “difficult” 2009, when companies were reluctant to be seen spending on such activities as jobs were being lost.
The conference and incentive segment had felt the crunch more than other sectors because of the international economic and financial crisis.
A total of 26 conferences have been attracted to Malta from 2009 to 2012 through a government-supported subsidy scheme. In all they will account for 10,300 delegates, or about 31,000 nights, putting into its true perspective this week’s 5,000-strong convention.
The conference is being held at the tail end of the peak tourism season and just before conference travel normally starts, tapping into a market that is still highly competitive, Paul Selis, On Site Malta managing director, pointed out.
“To manage to get a big piece of business is not too easy today. You need an offer that stands out; you need to be quick to offer it; you need competitive pricing; and you need to be 100 per cent sure all partners are reliable,” Mr Selis said of the ingredients for success.