Few industries experience the continuous change and evolution, whilst essentially still doing the same thing, producing & delivering the same service, as the travel industry does.  The core activity is to attract tourists to our shores, provide the service of accommodation and sight-seeing they require and to ensure their well-being and positive experience of our islands.  We have many professional companies who do this and earn their living from it, whilst employing many people and creating a good income for Malta and Gozo.  But if we have learnt something from the decades of tourism from the sixties and seventies through the eighties to today, it is that we must always be two-steps ahead of the present, if we are to ensure that we survive and prosper in this business.

Recently we have read the positive figures for Malta’s tourism that have been achieved for 2013 and for  2014 to-date which continued to register growth.  For those who work in this business, 2014 was done and dusted at least a year ago, with contracts signed and brochures launched months ahead.  Airlines have planned their operation, cruise liners have chosen their ports of call, clients have browsed the internet and the offers and tourists have come and gone.  Late bookings will continue to feature strongly but the demand can be sustained if we do our work well. 

We are not alone in wanting to grow and do well.  Competition never stops. Countries which may not have featured before, as they advance economically, look for growth in the tourism industry and the very fact that those destinations may be less developed and undiscovered, gives them an advantage in source markets of well-developed countries.

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation has revealed last year’s fastest-growing tourist destinations.  These are :

10. Taiwan (+9.7% since 2012), 9. UAE (+10.4%), 8. Russia (+10.5%), 7. Turkey +10.5%), 6. Vietnam (+10.6%), 5. The Philippines (+11.2%), 4. Greece (+15.5%),

3. Thailand (+19.6%),  2. Kazakhstan (+21.9%), 1. Japan (+24%).

Of course, some figures are relative.  For example, Japan may have had a set-back since the Tsunami of 2011 and is now recovering from low figures. 

Malta had experienced the second highest number of tourist arrivals in 2013 of all the EU countries, after Turkey and enjoyed an increase of nearly 9 percent from last year. 

However, it can be noted, that most of the countries listed in the WTO table, are selling their landscapes as a top attraction.  From the National Palace Museum in Taipei; the misty mountains, bamboo forests of the Yangmingshan national park; elaborate Buddhist and Taoist temples in Taiwan to the island-hopping in the Visayas; the subterranean river in Palawan; the Banaue rice terraces of the Philippines and the booming city of Astana;  Almaty, with its spectacular mountainous backdrop; the Charyn Canyon; ancient Taraz in Kazakhstan, amongst the other destinations.  The call is loud and clear.

Closer to home, we can find a marvelous example of capitalizing on the environment and  regenerating a previously un-marketed region, repackaging it for tourist consumption and for local social and economic development.  This is the Northumberland National Park in the North-east of England.

John Riddle, the chairman of Northumberland National Park Authority, said: “The Sill – an £11.2m discovery centre, is an ambitious project which will open up the Northumbrian landscape, a hidden gem, to new audiences on a national and international level.  Our aim is to create a building and educational outreach programme which will transform how people experience, enjoy, understand and care for the landscape of the future.  It will boost tourism spend whilst giving local businesses across the park the chance to showcase what makes them unique.”

The centre, designed in partnership with the Youth Hostels Association (YHA), will also house state-of-the-art education facilities, outdoor activity areas, office administration, retail space and a café’ for local produce. 

The design will also be sustainable, made with local woodchip and solar thermal water heating. 

Looking at a picture of the Northumberland project, our own White Rocks Complex site came to mind.  The project which had been announced in 2010 mentioned a €200 million foreign direct investment to turn White Rocks into a sports and leisure village.  Only to be abandoned before starting, as the project did not yield enough benefits for the country. 

The derelict site in Bahar-ic-Caghaq could be turned into such a visitor centre, at less cost than the sports village project, incorporating simple accommodation and similar facilities, but also transforming the coastal zone & maghtab area into an open-air park, show-casing even our pre-historic sites, maritime and rural heritage.  Or does this bring to mind the soreness of the open-air theatre in Valletta? 

Certainly, the benefits to the country would far exceed the present policy of Land Reclamation which goes completely against the trend and sustainability of tourism in the 21st century or this mania for building luxury apartment complexes which do nothing for the community or the culture of the island.

That the same coastal area which could be so well regenerated, is being targeted for yet more luxury properties.  What advantages can be gained from having a casino or flats & office buildings on such land?  Not only will they bring no gain but they will in fact detract from the overall environment, which today, has become of huge importance for travel and tourism and the well-being of the local population.

Having spent some time living in Qawra, I can tell you that the morning view at Qalet Marku is incredibly beautiful, as is the moonlight shining right above it.  What a shame to spoil it and for the sake of what?

The Maltese care deeply about their home and their tourism industry.  Not only are so many of the population employed directly or indirectly in the business, but most people are very proud of their island and its heritage.  On a popular level Maltese people participate on a daily basis in some aspect of our product, whether by swimming in the sea, walking along the promenades, visiting Valletta in Notte Bianca evenings, the local Festi and anyone going there on a Sunday can tell you - even going to the airport for greeting relatives, working, or simply for a coffee whilst watching the planes coming in and out of Malta.  It is almost a national past-time and operators of the airport can tell you that it is unique to Malta, that the airport enjoys more commerce on the weekends than during the week.  In other words, we are integrated with the very fabric of tourism in our everyday lives and anything that can harm or deter its sustainable progress is a concern for us all.

Would it be so difficult for the developers and the building industry to evolve around such realities?  Or are they so attached to their “blokk flats”, like a child to their comfort blanket? Put in some new thinking and you can create benefit for yourselves and for Malta in the long-term.  Or shall it all come down like the Tower of Babel?