The Maltese tourist sector has been in the doldrums for some time. The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association has been voicing its concern about the future of the Malta tourist industry, and has gone on record with the declaration that the target of attracting an additional 50,000 tourists by the end of this year, will not be reached.

Efforts are afoot to

“re-brand” Malta. The Malta Tourism Authority has

commissioned “qualitative studies”, brought together “working groups” and organised “focus meetings” to get to grips with this branding exercise.

We were told that the Tourism Authority was to have a new structure by the end of summer and the media have devoted considerable space to speculation on the feasibility of more golf courses and the merits and demerits of low-cost airlines operating to and from Malta.

Are the powers-that-be missing the wood for the trees? Is this flurry of activity a stratagem to deflect the attention of public opinion at a time when things seem to be going from bad to worse? Or is bureaucratic incompetence being

confounded by evasion of the core issues crying aloud to be tackled?

Core issues

The core issues have yet to be addressed before a positive step forward is possible. It is not necessary to set up another committee of experts to identify them.

Malta must be marketed for what it is, not for what it is not. The point of departure is to upgrade tourist facilities and, then, to capitalise on Malta’s strengths.

A well disposed correspondent, writing from England to a local daily, (The Times, 10 October), rattled a longish list of items which devalue Malta’s image in the eyes of visiting tourists (who go back to discourage others from coming). In the mass, these observations reflected a stale and shoddy image that calls for energetic treatment. Although the Tourism Authority and the government have to pull up their socks and rise to the occasion, success depends on all-round national cooperation in the common interest.

National self-respect

The powers-that-be have to lead by example and highlight a sense of national self-respect. How much longer do we have to wait before the government begins in earnest to upgrade the approaches to our capital city? Is it not a disgrace that, 60 years after the end of World War Two, tourists visiting Valletta are greeted by a “Stalinesque gate” followed by a “bomb site”?

And are not the Valletta bastions, covered as they are by caper plants, a certificate for inertia?

Who is responsible for the long state of dereliction of Lower Fort St Elmo and parts of Fort St Angelo? Who is answerable for the progressive degradation of parts of the countryside and for the sustained and accelerating air pollution?

Valid observations

The correspondent above-mentioned made a number of valid observations:

l. If you want tourists to visit historic sites, provide parking space for them.

2. At all the beaches around the island, toilet facilities are either a disgrace or non-existent.

3. Customer service is often poor. 50 per cent of Maltese waiters and shop assistants are described as “surly and off-putting”.

4. Some hotels are in need of refurbishing.

5. Road signs need to be improved. The ubiquitous brown tourist signs, found all over Europe, are sadly missing in Malta.

6. The level of driving competence in Malta leaves much to be desired.

7. Malta could do with a refurbishment of country walks and paths.

8. Malta’s airfare structure is not competitive. Tourism is Malta’s biggest earner. With competition from other destinations at cheaper prices and a better product, Malta could not aspire to survive, without improving the quality and the value of its offer.

The above are basic considerations. They have to do with the very foundation stones of the industry.

Unless the foundations are laid on solid ground, the edifice will be shaky, and, in the end, something has to give.

No branding exercise for the tourist sector will yield the desired results, unless the above weaknesses are ironed out – and, in the short or long run, they have to be ironed out satisfactorily, whether Malta chooses to rely on mass tourism, or on specific special markets, focusing on deep-sea diving, English language

students, conference and cultural tourism, and so on.

Allocation of resources

Unless the powers-that-be go back to basics – and the sooner, the better – the misallocation of resources will continue to corrode the sinews of the tourist industry, and will do so at an exponential rate.

Politicians come and go. Those who fail today will hand over to their successors, who will have to try to sort out the mess.

Businessmen and workers in the tourist sector who lose their earnings will have no such option. They will have to carry the can. Some have already been doing so.

[email protected]