A Maltese-owned UK tour operator has made it on to The Telegraph online for being a success story, but it too is feeling the pinch since the conflict in Libya when it comes to destination Malta.
People are hesitating to book holidays to the Mediterranean region in general, maintains Peter Sultana, director of the Kent-based Mercury Direct. According to the online newspaper, however, it has “developed a strategy that has helped it prosper during one of the industry’s toughest years on record”.
The company, set up some 30 years ago, specialises in affordable holidays to long-haul destinations and longer stays in sunny European locations, such as Malta and Cyprus.
Mr Sultana said the Malta Tourism Authority has been monitoring the situation and has consulted the company on the situation. Its feedback has been that while the island was “still doing OK”, prospective tourists were asking questions they had never asked before, such as whether it is safe.
Mercury Direct’s longer-stay business in Malta is focused on the shoulder and winter months – not so much the peak season – so it has not felt the full impact of the unrest in north Africa.
But Egypt’s tourism, for example, has “totally collapsed”, he said, adding that the UK sends about 30,000 tourists a week to its resorts and that Mercury Direct’s own business to Sharm el-Sheikh has “slowed down tremendously”.
Initially, the effects of the unrest were positive and traffic was redirected to Malta, “with tour operators that never featured the island all of a sudden having to fill their programmes with something else,” he said.
Since then, business has slowed down but there have been no cancellations, Mr Sultana continued, citing one of the reasons as being the fact that clients do not get refunds as there is no travel warning for Malta.
“But since Libya, they have started to think we are in the middle of the action,” Mr Sultana said.
The Telegraph interview, which highlights an overseas success story, quotes Mercury Direct founder Martin Bugeja as saying that “while the package holiday market is shrinking, ours is expanding”.
Mr Bugeja elaborates that package holidays have suffered when it comes to short breaks. “But if you want to spend a month in Malta and Cyprus, you would want to make sure you have the best deal, which we have negotiated with our hotels.”
Mercury Direct has an annual turnover of £44 million and employs 65 workers, carrying 60,000 passengers a year. It has focused on leading market positions in two key areas: affordable, all-inclusive, long-haul holidays, such as to Mauritius and Sri Lanka, and the long-stay, winter market in European destinations.
Mauritius was a prime example of what was perceived to be a traditional top-end holiday destination, which Mercury Direct turned into a niche market of three- and four-star hotels within any client’s reach, becoming a market leader in the sector.