Need to buy some fresh milk from Mdina? Think again. There are 10 souvenir shops and 11 restaurants in the Silent City – but no grocery store.
That simple statistic reflects the decrease in the town’s residents – down by a quarter to 275 over the last two decades – and the rise of tourism, with at least 1.7 million visitors recorded last year.
Yet the Silent City, the second most visited historic site in Malta and now boasting 12 tourist attractions, still does not have its own tourism management plan.
That needs to change, say the recommendations from three years of research in the Heland Project. Spearheaded by the Institute for Tourism, Travel and Culture at the University of Malta and funded by the Enpi CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme, the project’s main aim is to enhance the appreciation and management of the social and cultural aspects of tourism sites.
Second most visited site, boasts 12 attractions and still lacks a tourism management plan
The project concluded there was an urgent need for a proper tourist management plan for Mdina and generated ideas on how to boost the city’s economic activity with the involvement of stakeholders.
One of the researchers, Giusy Cardia, told an international conference that when gender equality was promoted in tourism, for example, it led to a better tourist experience and potentially a higher economic return.
Figures gathered from 11 heritage sites in Mdina show that though 40 members of staff are men and 45 are women, men occupy 86 per cent of leadership positions.
The project included an app developed by Icon and called Mdina Through Time. It will be available int he coming days.
Downloadable from www.mdinathroughtime.com, it features a 3D reconstruction of Mdina’s iconic square and allows users to see how the site may have looked through the ages.
The Mdina experience
• 83% are satisfied with their tourism experience.
• One-fifth are repeat visitors.
• The average stay is three hours.
• 72% spend less than €25 and the rest between €25 and €200.
• The Medieval Festival is the most popular event, followed by religious feasts and concerts.