The government is giving utmost importance to the recommendations made by the Consultative Group on tourism, Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said yesterday.

Speaking at the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association’s (MHRA) annual meeting, he said many of the recommendations were expected to be included in the National Tourism Plan.

“I want to thank the group for its recommendations. The Prime Minister is giving utmost importance to these recommendations and they will be included in the national tourism plan which should be published by the end of this month or by the end of the year at the latest,” Dr Zammit Dimech said.

However, in a parting shot at the government, outgoing MHRA president Justin Zammit Tabone expressed his disappointment at the lack of progress emanating from the inter-ministerial meetings, and urged the government to get things done much faster.

The importance of the tourism sector to the Maltese economy was highlighted in a paper by economist Prof. Lino Briguglio who called for a balanced view on the contribution of the industry to the economy.

In his paper on the value added of tourism in terms of its direct, indirect and induced contribution to the economy, Prof. Briguglio said the sector directly contributes about 13 per cent to Malta’s GDP (specifically to Malta’s economic value added).

This sector’s contribution to the economy has been the subject of much discussion over the years with economists, the government and the industry coming up with figures ranging from 7.5 per cent of GDP to a high of 40 per cent of GDP.

Explaining that the direct impact was the best way to analyse the sector contribution to Malta’s economic value added, Prof. Briguglio acknowledged that compared to other economic sectors such as manufacturing, the multiplier and indirect effects were much higher.

“Tourist expenditure has a high income multiplier effect in comparison with other forms of expenditure, for example, exports of merchandise, in that tourism expenditure has a relatively low import content and generates income to a large proportion of the population,” he said.

He said the sector generates indirect demand for services and goods as well as contributing to employment in non-tourism areas.

“Tourism also generates about 20 per cent of foreign exchange inflows on trade in goods and services… and contributes considerably to government revenue mostly through tax on tourist expenditure, and tax on providers of tourism services,” Prof. Briguglio said.

He also stressed the industry make-up should be based on a number of areas and that Malta’s major attraction remained its climate and its sea. He said it was a fallacy to say that just because there are other Mediterranean destinations with sea and sun attractions, “we must not sell Malta as a sea and sun destination”. Taken to its “illogical” conclusion, he said, this would suggest that we downplay Malta’s major assets, in so far as tourism is concerned.

He also dismissed the notion that tourism was harming the island’s environment and coastal areas, adding that other sectors such as the construction industry, were causing more harm.

Prof. Briguglio said it was not the case either that all efforts should be on encouraging cultural tourism rather than pure recreation.

“Malta has a rich cultural heritage but we should not exaggerate its attraction.” However, he added, Malta’s competitive advantage lies in sea and sun and the thrust of our promotion should be on these factors. Cultural heritage should be considered a bonus, he said.

Prof. Briguglio said the sector was sending a number of contradictory messages.

“We speak of the importance of beaches, yet we neglect them. We want to ‘brand’ Malta, but let taxi drivers, karrozzin cabbies and hunter give Malta a band name internationally. We have potential for winter tourism, and yet we do little to encourage it,” he said.

Concluding his presentation, Prof. Briguglio said the industry had to maximise the attraction of its coastal assets, provide better beach facilities, emphasise Malta’s excellent climate and promote the fact that Malta is a very safe tourism destination.

At the same time, he added, the country needs to minimise the negative impact of the construction industry on tourism, liberalise or partially liberalise the white taxi service, impose strict controls on hunting, and encourage the development of youth hostels for English language students.

Prof. Briguglio also suggested the promotion of health and sports tourism, religious tourism, create facilities for country walks tourism and a general improvement of the island’s cultural assets.

Outgoing MHRA president Justine Zammit Tabona gave an overview of the main challenges facing the council over the past two years. He said he was extremely pleased that the MHRA’s calls for the introduction of low-cost carriers had been heeded because the association always believed that it can contribute to the growth of Malta’s tourism sector.

Mr Zammit Tabona said it was very positive that Air Malta had risen to the challenge of low-cost carriers and that the airline deserves the support of all the major players in the hospitality industry.

Turning to the Malta Tourism Authority, he said the trials and tribulations inflicted upon the authority “must be attributed to the erratic and slow approach in the implementation of the long overdue restructuring exercise of the MTA organisation”.

He said the negative start to the Brand Malta exercise, the premature resignation of the MTA chairman and CEO earlier this year, the long time it took to choose the new chairman and CEO and the recent en masse resignation of the MTA Board of Directors greatly contributed to the slowing down of the decision-making process.

“Thankfully, the choice of Sam Mifsud as the incoming chairman together with the wise decision of appointing a full-time CEO, David Mifsud, as was originally suggested, in my opinion bode well for the future welfare of the MTA,” he said.

Mr Zammit Tabona said he felt compelled to express his disappointment at the lack of progress emanating from the inter-ministerial meetings and urged the Prime Minister and Cabinet members to attend these meetings to extend the same amount of energy bestowed on the pre-CHOGM preparatory works to the work currently under way or being planned.

The new council of the MHRA was appointed yesterday morning and the name of the new president of the association will be formally announced this evening.