From Mr J. Zarb MBA, FHCIMA, MTS

In his article “Billboard Branding”, Alfred Mifsud gives the impression that branding comprises a series of outward looking foci (TMIS, 6 August). I have been preaching about civic awareness and the need for all of us to be involved in the tourism industry for the past 12 years – we cannot detach tourism from our own everyday lives for the simple reason that we do not have enclaves on this island! Getting people involved means inculcating the ownership concept to any tourism policy or strategy including branding. If we continue to create the impression of a laissez faire island with a North African culture, then I am afraid we will never prove to be the competitive destination we aspire to be!

Our promise has to be made collectively, our outward behaviour needs to project a sincere feeling of real hospitality (as opposed to a false, induced image straight out of Hollywood or Disneyland!); our service can only be good – there is no such thing as bad service because this implies NO service to the customer. We have the potential of offering a unique experience to visitors in all our towns and villages through the culture, traditions and characteristics that do vary even in such a small land mass!

I beg to differ with Mr. Mifsud that the tourism experience is not about choosing polo shirts with a crocodile logo or a polo player; it is about a deeper feeling that satisfies a series of needs and sensations. Branding T-shirts is about satisfying social issues but branding tourism is about satisfying social, interracial as well as economical issues!

The ideas put by Mr Mifsud for a more lively and vibrant Valletta have been made before; indeed I have written about the need to create a social fabric in our city and get rid of the idea of an administration and commercial centre, for a few years now! But this idea can only be translated if there is the commitment of the group I call the tripartite – the local council, the commercial sector and the residents including those NGOs with an interest in maintaining culture, traditions and character.

We do not need emergency or contingency planning but we do need serious long term planning that includes the national commitment to make this happen – why are we still dependant on central government to make things happen? Have we not got the pride to ensure that our islands really are our home? Perhaps this is our problem; perhaps we need to nurture this sense of belonging in our children and our communities – it used to be called patriotism, today it is simply termed civic pride. Our product and service should really start from us, branding must be a national project – if it belongs to the government or the MTA it will never work!

Julian Zarb

Tourism Journalist

Iklin