Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said yesterday he was confident the tourism segment would continue to grow in a sustainable way.

He was speaking at the Museum of Archaeology where the fourth edition of the “Knighthood Experience” is being held by MICE, the marketing support and development directorate of the Malta Tourism Authority.

Tourism, Dr Zammit Dimech said, was a dynamic sector. As such, we must keep abreast of developments.

He referred to last year’s weak performance by the industry and said that it was only towards the last quarter of the year that we started to make up for lost ground. “In the three-month period of November, December and January we had an increase in departures of 5.7 per cent over the same period of 2005/2006. He said that tourism in these three months was also 4.7 per cent higher than in the same three months of 2004/2005.”

These positive results were primarily the result of the introduction of low-cost airlines, which this year are planning to bring over close to 120,000 passengers.

Dr Zammit Dimech said the conference and incentive travel segment was a growth area propelled by good-quality accommodation, appropriate venues, quality service and a variety of activities.

The minister remarked that in the past 10 years, the number of five-star hotels went up from eight to 15 with the number of beds increasing from 2,878 to 6,324. He said that five-star hotels were an important factor in attracting conference and incentive visitors to Malta. He said that 76 per cent of all participants in the CIT sectors are accommodated in five-star establishments with 23 per cent in four-star hotels.

Dr Zammit Dimech said that data published by the National Statistics Office on tourist air departures compiled according to the purpose of the visit for the year 2006, indicate that tourists visiting Malta for business – including conferences, incentives and business meetings – amounted to 101,639, representing a share of 9.2% of total tourists visiting Malta. He said that the number of business travellers in 2006 increased by 7.1 per cent when compared to 2005.

Minister Zammit Dimech said that it is estimated that 65,000 conference and incentive delegates visited Malta in 2006, accounting for 5.8 per cent of tourist departures. He said that total earnings from CIT business in 2006 is estimated at Lm33 million (e76,869,322).