In the first quarter (January to March) of 2018, 65,000 additional tourists visited Malta compared to last year's first quarter, according to the Deloitte-BOV Hotel and Restaurant survey.

The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) presented the survey's results yesterday at a conference held at the Le Meriden Hotel St Julian's, which highlighted seemingly strong growth in tourism but with a few exceptions of decreasing trends.

Germans comprised the highest proportion of tourists visiting Malta in the first quarter, at 11,000 tourists. Other leading nationalities visiting Malta were the British (10,000), Italians (9,000) and Poles (7,000).

Speaking at the conference, leader of Financial Advisory of Deloitte Raphael D'Aloiso explained how whilst the current trend was overall positive for the industry, hotels suffered various dips in growth. Statistics revealed that 5 star hotels experienced a 30 per cent decrease in gross operating profit (GOP) in this year's first quarter compared to last year's.

D'Aloiso explained that this was not completely surprising with Malta holding the EU presidency last year: "The EU presidency led to 5 star hotels being the main beneficiaries with last year being some of the highest results."

Overall, 4-star and even 3-star hotels fared better in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the 5-star hotels.

NSO statistics of Q1 revealed an 18 per cent increase in tourist arrivals at Private Accommodation and Collective Accommodation overall. The duration of guest nights has also increased in this quarter for both Private and Collective accommodation increasing by 18 per cent. Tourist expenditure compared to last year also showed an upturn of 14 per cent in both private and collective accommodation.

The ratio between tourists and Maltese for this winter season showed that 52 per cent of customers at restaurants were tourists with 48 per cent being Maltese. Furthermore the discrepancy is even bigger for employees working in the industry with 56 per cent of employees being non-Maltese and 44 per cent being Maltese. Restaurants overall experienced a 42 per cent increase in revenue compared to last's year's quarter.

MHRA President Tony Zahra stated that the sector was experiencing strong growth however noted the importance of sustainability and responsibility of touristic sector was the next step. However making reference to the study "Has Global Tourism reached its limits?" conducted by IP World Tourism Monitor at ITB, Mr Zahra stated that figures showed that 24% of global destination management organisations reported that their destination was over-crowded and tat 37 per cent said it affected them negatively.

In light of this the MHRA President questioned what is sustainable for Malta as a tiny island and referred to the Austrian tourism strategy which is changing from that of counting numbers to increasing the quality of the tourist and maximising on the spend per tourist day.

The MHRA is proposing government to consider implementing eight objectives including:

Carrying out a Carrying Capacity Assessment with the aim to establish sustainable levels of growth in tourism"- last exercise in 2001 revealed limiting factor to be space and the host community tolerance.

Strengthen those public agency functions that are responsible of the results of increased infrastructure" namely  cleanliness and upkeep of public areas and traffic management.

Efforts to diversify the market away from mainstream terms" such as seasonal spread and spreading more arrivals around the island for example more accommodation in the south away from traditional resort areas.

Promoting fiscal incentives in aid of diversification e.g. incentives to carriers in winter months and reducing or indeed eliminating them all together in the peak summer months.

Ensuring all visitors pay their eco tax irrespective of accommodation type.

Stricter regulation and enforcement for accommodation quality and restaurants.                   

Embark on a Master Plan for Tourism 2020-2040. The existing tourism policy states a "Vision for Tourism 2030 based on the concept of controlled growth however this need to be implemented and supported with effective measures and constant monitoring of KPI's".

In conclusion MHRA President Tony Zahra concluded that "those responsible for planning tourism must be careful to ensure that tourists and locals do not destroy what tourists have come to see".

The discussion panel included the participation of CEO for The Institute of Tourism Studies Pierre Fenech, CEO of identity Malta Anton Sevasta, Head of Division (Employment) at Jobs Plus Mario Xuereb and MHRA representative Peter Rieks.