The title of this editorial more or less sums up what many in the tourism industry feel the government should be doing. Nobody is disputing the facts: the tourism sector in Malta has taken a battering over the past few years and something urgent has to be done to turn the situation around.

Malta has lost of lot of ground to new destinations offering excellent value packages in some beautiful places. They have an advantage, in that they can attract volume, but they have also been extremely careful not to allow quality to suffer. Malta can never compete with numbers, never has and never will, but we can match any other destination on the value added and the quality of the product we offer. The only problem is that we cannot even get that right!

Generating growth in the tourism industry depends a great deal on a coordinated effort involving the government, the authority responsible for the sector, hoteliers and restaurant owners and the public in general. Each stakeholder in the industry knows what needs to be done: better management, better coordination between the policy-makers and industry and greater participation by the public to boost Malta’s tourist product. Strategic plans, policy decisions, market research reports are all important but only if the conclusions and recommendations made in each one are applied and implemented.

On Thursday, the Tourism and Culture Ministry and the Malta Tourism Authority launched the third strategic plan for consultation, for the period 2006-2009, which focuses on various aspects to improve the country’s tourism industry. According to Minister Francis Zammit Dimech, the new plan updates the previous ones “to reflect the present situation in the international tourism industry”.

The plan (once again) focuses on branding, increasing industry competitiveness, innovation, quality and the maximisation of EU funding opportunities. The plan also sets a long-term target, beyond 2009, for tourism volume to Malta to reach a peak of 1.5 million tourists per annum – based on a number of assumptions such as carrying capacity and occupancy levels. The minister also announced that the government’s policy on tourism will be published by the end of the year, following a consultation process.

So, here we have another strategic plan that builds on the two or three or four that came before. The strategy has not changed that much over the years: we know that we have to attract more tourists, we know we have to have a better product, we know that Malta does not have one, single brand image, and we know we need low-cost airlines. Probably the only “innovation” in this strategic plan is the low-cost issue.

In all honesty, what has the government or the MTA really achieved? The MTA issued a press release this week boasting that thousands had visited the visitmalta.com website. So what? Has the website helped to boost tourist numbers? No. Is it really an effective marketing tool?

By the end of the year, the government will have finalised its policy for the tourism industry. How can we expect the tourism industry to do well if the government is still, after three years in government, still finalising its policy for the tourism sector?

The government should be implementing this policy, it should be taking direct, concrete action where it really matters. Starting from the basics would be a good idea. Forget branding – but do everything possible to set up a national cleanliness plan that ensures that our main thoroughfares and streets are cleaned – regularly. If the authorities in huge cities like Dublin manage to keep the place clean, why can’t we do the same? This is what the government’s policy should focus on – a back-to-basics approach.

The Tourism Minister and the MTA will hold another press conference next year to present another add-on to the strategic plan. In the meantime, we risk losing more tourists and we risk losing money on a branding exercise that does not reflect the reality of what is on offer.

Scrap the reports, scrap the committees but get people working. That should be government’s policy for the tourism industry. More action please, no more strategies.