Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis and the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) have agreed that Mediterranean countries should band together and promote the Mediterranean region in countries like China in order to attract more tourists.
Tony Zahra, who has just been made President of the MHRA for the coming months, mentioned the Mediterranean Tourism Forum, soon to turn into the Mediterranean Tourism Foundation. Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis wants to see the forum discuss further topics such as Mediterranean security as well as policies which could have an impact on tourism. He said that Malta should promote it's safe environment.
This was said during a meeting between the Minister for Tourism and the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) about Malta's tourism strategy.
Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said that the government has been working in partnership with the MHRA and discussions are currently underway for the next phase in the policy. Although the current policy runs until 2016, the Minister said he does not want to leave it till the last minute to draft the plan for the three years following.
The renewal of the policy, he said, will be revealed towards the end of March, closely followed by the implementation plan.
The Minister spoke of the need to improve Malta's Tourism product, and argued against claims that Malta has reached it's saturation point. He indicated that there are areas where improvements can be made in order to attract more tourists.
Dr Zammit Lewis mentioned that an independent expert was hired, and is currently analysing the 2014 figures in order to see where improvements can be made. In addition to this, the government is working on prediction figures. He argues that current indicative figures show that length of stays seems to be improving in Winter.
For his part, Mr Zahra took note of the recent fuel reduction price and mentioned a further planned fuel reduction in April, hoping that the government will keep this promised reduction as well.
Turning to his vision of Malta, Mr Zahra said that he wants Malta to become like Luxembourg. With this goal in mind, any decisions affecting the Tourism industry could be put into this perspective. He stressed that Malta must look beyond capacity.
PN reviewing draft policy
In the meantime, the MHRA’s executive committee also met PN Economy Shadow Minister Claudio Grech and Tourism Spokesman Antoine Borg.
Mr Grech said tourism should remain an economic pillar that creates wealth and the Opposition will adopt a completely innovative role in this regard. “We will not be passive and we well not leave our ideas hidden in the drawer only to surface before the election. Instead, we will contribute as much as we can so that the tourism sector can flourish.”
Mr Grech said the positive developments being registered in the tourism sector are the result of a continuous and effective strategy adopted by the previous administration but this growth cannot be taken for granted. He said the Opposition will be presenting ideas on a strategic level as well as on the level of operational policies and their effective implementation.
Antoine Borg explained how the PN is reviewing in detail the draft national tourism policy and said the PN will be giving its reaction to it in the coming weeks, following a series of consultation meetings with the primary stakeholders.
Mr Borg said the Opposition views the stakeholders in the tourism industry as partners in the drafting of innovative and effective tourism policies. The Opposition, he said, will seek to develop a policy that looks at Malta’s touristic product in a new way and also new ways in which the country can exploit the sector to offer tourists an added value product.