Last month, the Malta Tourism Authority in collaboration with the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, held the first in a planned series of information seminars that will discuss the e-Tourism Portal currently being developed.

George Schembri, chief executive officer at the MHRA, opened the seminar and introduced David Mifsud, chief executive officer at the MTA, who outlined the need for an on-line portal that would serve as a national channel for various local tourism service providers.

Albert Vella, the initiative’s project manager, described the portal’s objectives and described how the e-Tourism portal represents a progressive improvement; from the current and highly-popular www.visitmalta.com, which is regarded as an ‘informational website,’ to a portal capable of providing on-line transactions and payment facilities.

Claudine Cassar, managing director of Alert Communications Limited, the company selected to develop the portal, also addressed the meeting. Mrs Cassar described some current trends in portal design and demonstrated a number of on-line examples that represent functionality and would be available in the e-Tourism Portal.

The Information Seminar, which was organised at Le Meridien Hotel in St Julian’s, was concluded with a question-and-answer session and closing-off comments from Mr Mifsud.