The Tourism and Culture Ministry and the Malta Tourism Authority yesterday denied a maltastar.com article which, they said, was based on inaccuracies and untruths.

The aim of the marketing and advertising services contract was and remains to have one clear message about Malta’s tourism offering, across all source markets, they said. Media Consulta, having been selected following a rigorous process, is the company responsible for ensuring that this is achieved.

It is not true that the budget for this initiative was slashed. The combined fee – the sum due to Media Consulta and the sum due to the media companies – was and remains EUR21 million, spread over a three year period. Therefore no contract fee was being slashed.

The EUR21 million consists of two parts: the first part is the fee due to Media Consulta for the execution of the services as listed in their tender bid, the second part of the fee will be due to the media companies (newspapers, television and radio stations etc) that will run MTA’s campaigns.

MTA made it clear, right from the tendering stage that it was retaining the right to continue making use of its own media buying agencies, if these were capable of offering better rates.

The whole tendering and selection process leading to the appointment of Media Consulta was driven by the Malta Tourism Authority. The ministry’s involvement in the selection process, the statement said, was limited to the presence of the Permanent Secretary (MTAC) as one of the five members of the technical team tasked to handle the negotiations with the short listed bidders and on the “ad hoc” committee tasked with selecting the preferred bidder. The ministry and MTA would now be working with Media Consulta to ensure that the objectives of the initiative were achieved.