Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech spoke about Malta’s heritage credentials yesterday, saying that the country could offer the tourist 7,000 years of the history of mankind in an area of 316 square kilometres.

This, he said, placed Malta in pole position in culture and heritage and should be our main tourism attraction.

Visitors seemed to be appreciating this in greater numbers, said Dr Zammit Dimech. “The market share of tourists who visited Malta for its culture and heritage last year stood at 12.8 per cent. Figures for tourist arrivals for the culture and heritage segment indicate that, during 2006, 143,460 tourists visited Malta for our culture and heritage.”

The minister was speaking at the launch of the Italo-Maltese Workshop on the Integration of the Geomorpho-logical Environment and Cultural Heritage for Tourism promotion and Hazard Prevention, held at the Italian Cultural Institute in Valletta.

He said the Malta Tourism Authority was promoting six major tourism segments: summer and winter sun and other leisure, culture and heritage, sports tourism, English language learning, conference and incentive travel and Gozo as a destination in its own right.

He pointed out that, with nine world heritage sites, Malta was definitely the country with the highest number of heritage sites per square kilometre in the world. Hal Saflieni, the seven Megalithic temples, Tas-Silg and other sites scattered all over Malta and Gozo were the hallmarks of Malta’s history, which went further back in years than the pyramids of Egypt and Stonehenge in England.

Dr Zammit Dimech said he saw a huge responsibility resting on the Maltese: that of conserving, restoring and refurbishing these heritage sites. This entailed huge capital outlays that the government would not have shouldered without the support of European Union funds and private sector financing.

He added that, over the last few years, the government had embarked on a great number of restoration and rehabilitation projects, including the rehabilitation of St James Cavalier, with an investment of Lm4.6 million (e10.72 million), the restoration work at The Presidential Palace in Valletta, the co-Cathedral of St John, the Manoel Theatre and the Mediterranean Conference Centre.

The minister said that cultural tourism also included religious tourism – with our vast wealth of churches all over Malta and Gozo, with all their artistic treasures, and our folklore.