“The policies of our country and the government led by the Nationalist Party made 2007 the most successful year in the history of tourism in Malta. During the last year, according to published statistics, our country had a rise of about 11 per cent in the number of tourists,” said the Prime Minister and Nationalist Party leader, Lawrence Gonzi, during a meeting with the Federation of Travel Agents and Tourism (FATTA) held as part of the consultation process for the Nationalist Party’s electoral programme.
The Prime Minister spoke about the tourism sector as an important part of the Nationalist Party’s vision for the year 2015. He emphasised the point that today the official statistics confirmed that in 2007 there was a strong increase of about 11 per cent in the tourism sector. These results showed that our country is moving in the right direction to become one of the best destinations in the Mediterranean region.
FATTA’s president, Ian Tonna, thanked the Prime Minister and the government for the consultation process while he praised the government’s policies in the tourism sector. “It is important that the breath of fresh air this sector had in the last year continues thanks to investment in the Maltese product, for it to continue to develop, and achieve more results,” said Mr Tonna. In this context he pointed out that there is a need for more beds so that with the increase of tourists there will also be sufficient accommodation facilities for them.
In another meeting with the Confederation of Malta Trade Unions, Dr Gonzi said the Nationalist Party was holding meetings with unions and constituted bodies because it believed that together they could all achieve.
The PN had an ambitious vision because it believed that with participation and everyone’s contribution the country could achieve high levels in all sectors of the PN vision for 2015.
On informatics Dr Gonzi said there had already been heavy investment in ICT and he was sure that in the CMTU there were many who already had a direct link with the sector, such as at Mater Dei Hospital, the Pharmacy of Your Choice scheme and other sectors which relied on ICT.
In the financial sector and in tourism they had new statistics showing that last year there had been an increase of some 11 per cent in the number of visitors.
Another sector where they were doing well was services, such as the call centres and Lufthansa Technik. Gozo, too, was important for the PN vision.
In addition there was the challenge of price pressures, caused by the rise in the prices of oil, food and cereals.
The country needed more women working and more workers, in order to raise to raise its productivity. A strong government would not allow experimentation.
He also referred to amendments to legislation relating to part time workers and said the government needed to see how these amendments could lessen the abuses which part timers sometimes made.