EUR21 million of public funds is being allocated to promote Malta as a tourist destination through its new partner, the multinational media company Media Consulta, in an effort to reach more potential visitors through an integrated communications strategy.

The announcement was made yesterday during the Malta Tourism Authority’s general conference, which was held at the Dolmen Hotel. Media Consulta’s CEO Harald Zulauf gave a presentation of the new integrated strategy and received a rapturous response. The EUR21 million will be put to good use over two years to further push Malta’s image abroad, said Mr Zulauf.

The presentation not only explained Media Consulta’s approach to attracting more tourism to Malta, but also contained delightful video features, which were presumably put on to show the 400-strong audience how the country could be marketed. The emphasis is to make Malta a more “sexy” destination.

Mr Zulauf explained that consumers were tired of commercial messages and that successful campaigns needed to reach people holistically. He gave various examples of what the company’s team had come up with so far and these included a very strong emphasis on creating awareness and knowledge about Malta through using the national media of various countries, such as Italy, France, the UK and Germany.

Media Consulta also promised more access to foreign media, including stations such as Channel 4, RTL and various internationally known newspapers such as The Times of London, The Independent and others around Europe. Mr Zulauf explained that the MTA would also benefit from cost effectiveness, enjoying cheaper prices by going through Media Consulta as it already had agreements with various media.

The company has also proposed to tap pan-European media such as Sky News and Eurosport to promote the attraction of Malta as a sailing, diving and even rock-climbing destination.

This marketing and editorial plan will be accompanied by the organisation of signature events during the shoulder months, such as an IT conference to be tied in with the building of SmartCity and a European Culture Festival.

This will be supported by a Malta Travelling Roadshow. The company has already organised something similar for the European Commission and the first proposal is to have a massive truck, kitted out with information and multi-media, touring France over a period to create more awareness about Malta as a tourism destination.

In addition, Media Consulta is also planning to have Malta endorsed and promoted in other European countries through celebrity ambassadors. Of course, Malta already has them, and perhaps the most well known is England footballer Gary Neville. However, Mr Zulauf explained that these ambassadors should not only be well known in Malta, they should be well known in their own countries.

To this effect, he showed the hall a clip of Popeye Village, merged with scenes of the original film Popeye, where a scene was dubbed over. The scene essentially showed Popeye speaking and telling everyone that he was actually Maltese. Mr Zulauf would not be drawn into whether the actor, Robin Williams, was to be approached over the role of an ambassador. Mr Zulauf explained that while all this was important, Malta still needed a strong identity to which people could relate and the decision had been taken to use the Knight’s Cross as Malta’s identifying icon.

Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said that “together we have changed the visible and intangible state of our country. We have, over a relatively short time, moved from being a time-warped country to a country which is at the leading edge of technology, has an enviable education system, with a health system that is among the best in the world and a quality of life that is earning us labels such as the happiest country on earth or the ideal place where to retire.

“We have come a long way and I am sure that our inventiveness and will to succeed will spur us to further achievements in the days ahead,” he said.

However, Dr Zammit Dimech also pointed out that Malta faced challenges. “What are the challenges facing our industry today? A study published recently ranked the competitiveness of the tourism industry in 124 countries. Malta was placed 26th,” he said.

The European countries that ranked in the first 20 places have a high GDP and essentially see tourism as a means of protecting their economic wealth. The lower ranking countries see tourism as a means of generating economic wealth.

“Interestingly, there are a number of countries that fall between these two groups. Many of these are Mediterra-nean countries and, yes, Malta is one of them. We are investing more than the average countries in our industry, we have a GDP that is higher than the mean, but we are clearly in a state of transition,” he said.

Dr Zammit Dimech took SmartCity as an example. “The objectives of the SmartCity project are clearly not primarily rooted in tourism. However, this project will create a new tourism flow into Malta. The new hospital will set even higher standards in our health sector. We have to provide people with a reason to come to Malta,” he said.

He also referred to the fact that the government had accepted a RyanAir proposal to operate four new under-served routes from Girona, Stockholm and Bari as of the end of October, and Bremen as of 25 September.

Dr Zammit Dimech said that during the first three months of this year, we had had seven per cent more tourists, who had, in turn, spent 10 per cent more in our country, proving that the MTA was sailing in the right direction.

He also emphasised the need for teamwork and working towards common goals. “As long as we understand that we’re in it together and that we need to act more collectively than individually, then there can be the growth that we all rightly aspire to,” he said.

Most of the questions taken from the floor were mainly from hoteliers on the issue of increasing tourist numbers, but fewer bed nights, and how this situation was to be addressed.

However, there were also questions about Gozo, the first of which was a suggestion for Gozo to have its own tourism authority. Dr Zammit Dimech said this was a matter to be discussed and that he could see the point behind the suggestion. The second question related to Gozo was about the proposed extension to the landing strip. “We need to listen to more opinions on that matter from all concerned, but we must remember that even if we did extend the strip, it would still only accommodate small aircraft,” said Dr Zammit Dimech. He added: “We should never kill the goose that lays the golden egg, which is why we must not spoil Gozo’s unique character. I appreciate all the arguments for increased access, but such access must be sustainable in the long run,” he said.

He was also asked about golf courses, and answered: “The amount of development which would have been needed was simply unacceptable. We would never do anything which, in the long-term, would be detrimental to our islands.”

This brought about a comment from the floor to the effect that the government had been promising golf courses for the past 20 years, and asking what had changed. Dr Zammit Dimech replied: “It is simply priorities. That might be an unpopular answer, but it is an honest and frank one.”

Asked also what was being done to ensure that Malta was not over-hyped, which could lead to disillusionment or visitors feeling let down, Dr Zammit Dimech said: “You cannot have too much of a gap between the levels of what you have and how you market a destination. However, we are lucky, we do not need to invent, we do have the heritage at our fingertips.”

He continued: “What we do need to do is continue to update our regulations and take better care of these gifts that we possess as a nation,” he said, adding that everyone had to do their bit.

MTA chairman and CEO Sam Mifsud and David Mifsud respectively also delivered speeches during the conference.