The measures being taken by the government in favour of the tourism industry were bearing fruit with the number of tourists visiting Malta registering an improvement over the previous year.

In December, a 10 per cent increase was registered when compared to the same month last year, the Tourism Parliamentary Secretary said.

This, it said, was taking place because the government was investing to increase accessibility to Malta through additional routes, it increased advertising and worked more to bring over conferences. It increased cooperation with tourism operators and was continuously working to ensure that tourism continued to grow. Even the opposition was admitting that positive signs could be seen in tourism.

The secretariat said that the national plan and policy for tourism were the basis of the government’s work. These documents had been drawn up following wide consultation and with the contribution of many entities.

The opposition chose not to contribute and this could be the reason why it was insisting that this plan and policy did not exist.

The secretariat referred to a PL statement expressing concern at the drop in the number of cruise passengers visiting in January.

This, it said, was due one cruise liner not making it to port because of bad weather.

Had this made it to Grand Habour, the number of passengers in January would have reached more than 11,000, quite close to the 12,580 passengers who visited in the same month last year.