Earlier last month, the Kunsill Malti ghall-iSport, together with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment, organised the National Sports Conference which was very well attended.

Having been present, I am of the opinion that the conference was a great exercise and planning tool in setting the path for an effective sports strategy for our islands.

In the course of the past three weeks (with the kind permission of the KMS and special thanks to Mr. Joe Cassar, CEO of the KMS) I delved deeper into each respective workshop and shared with you the main conclusions and suggestions that arose from all those present.

Today I will discuss the final workshop, namely the one that conferred upon the role sports plays within the Maltese economy.

Being originally an economics graduate, I interested myself to a good extent in this workshop and even spent a good deal of time in this meeting room to observe and scrutinise most of the views and points arising during the discussion that was chaired by Mr John Farrugia and with Mr Kenneth Vella as rapporteur.

This workshop got underway with the chairperson highlighting some studies (and their results) carried out lately.

It was pointed out that the total direct expenditure on sport in the Maltese economy in 2005 was estimated at Lm31.3.million. This accounted for 1.6 per cent of the total Gross Domestic Product of Malta for the same year, i.e. 2005.

The amount of Lm 31,300,000 was broken down in various parts, among which total final consumption expenditure resulted in Lm15.78 million whilst the export of sport goods and services amounted to Lm32.34 million.

The gross capital formation investment in sports was calculated at Lm 334,000 and then one has to deduct the Lm17.16 million arising from the imports of sports goods and services.

Another interesting statistic was that the household expenditure on sport was estimated at Lm 13.06 million in 2005 broken down in membership/competition fees (Lm 1,492,000), provided services (Lm1,085,00), sports goods and equipment/retail (Lm8,489,000) and value added tax (Lm1,992,000).

Malta's potential of carving out a beneficial niche in the sports tourism market was mentioned a number of times in all of the workshops. In 2005 it was estimated that the total expenditure by tourists visiting Malta for sports purposes was Lm30.62 million with over 76,500 tourists and an average expenditure of Lm400.

Our climate could be one of the main factors to help in developing sports tourism in our Islands. This and other advantages have to be emphasized in an efficient manner so as to lure and entice the organisation of international competitions and training camps.

Unfortunately the statistics issued by the Malta Tourism Authority do not place much or no emphasis on sports tourism. This has to change and numbers relating to sport tourism need to be included consistently in every statistical report.

In fact, the establishment of a committee made up of officials from the KMS, MTA and sport associations was proposed. This committee's task would be to market sport activities and promote sport tourism in Malta.

Along this workshop the participants also pointed out that most of Malta's sport associations are run by volunteers (whose number is gradually decreasing) and the pressure on the latter is always on the rise.

It seems to be a necessity in the future for associations to have professional management as new and novel problems are being faced as time goes by.

As regards sponsorships, it was stressed that private businesses are becoming quite reluctant and hesitant to invest in sport due to many factors amongst which lack of exposure and adequate revenue from such an investment.

It was proposed that partnerships between associations could be useful and even a pressure group (or better still a union) could be formed to defend the associations' interests.

Costs are on the increase, especially for those associations/sport entities that also run some sports facility. Fiscal incentives were suggested so as to help these same associations.

One fiscal incentive that was proposed was the reduction or abolishment of air ticket tax when athletes go abroad to represent their country.

Another suggestion was that the sport associations start working closely with the KMS to carry out meetings with the main local banks with the aim to obtain favourable loans so as to develop new or existing sport facilities.

One also has to remember that sport has been fully and officially recognized by the European Union in these last months and thus associations and other local sport entities can start researching and working hard towards obtaining some available European funds reserved for sport initiatives and/or projects.