Frankfurt’s book fair, the largest international event of its kind, this year attracted around 160,000 business visitors during its first three days and about 140,000 private visitors at the weekend when it was open to the public. While countries from all over the world featured their publications, culture, and printing capability resources, Malta, unfortunately, was missing. The question to be dealt with in the following is how could one approach such a project?

Certainly not all 300,000 visitors go by every stand. Many probably have already selected, through the Internet from home, which halls/stands they want to visit, as there is no way that it can all be seen in a day. But it still is a meeting place to establish industry and trade contacts during the week, while in the b2c field one could raise awareness of Malta, its books and printing capabilities.

While doing a fantastic job and employing quite a few people, the local printing industry is not really prominently featured in the local media. The only media that apparently reported an important anniversary of a firm from the island’s southeast was the PN’s maltarightnow online and it definitely deserved more attention in general.

Whereas the Leipzig book fair stresses the literary aspect and is more focused on Germany, in Frankfurt, where the number of visitors is also larger, one looks at the b-to-b and sales aspect just as much and is more international. As regards local visitors, the population density in western Germany, e.g. within a range of say 150 kms from Frankfurt, is significantly higher than in the former GDR territory, and of course access is way better by road, rail and air.

As regards Malta, this year there was one book by a Maltese academic and narrative writer translated into German with a German publisher that also has a section specialising in the Maghreb and Arab language literature translations, on the stand of the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz, where the publisher has its seat. All this of course was hardly noticed – one book, and would one go looking for it in the halls for German publishers? For the 2007 fair, a Maltese printing firm that also publishes a newspaper actually participated on the stand of this publisher. Unfortunately, the display was somewhat disappointing, particularly when keeping in mind the quality and broadness of the product range that this firm indeed offers on the Maltese market. For some reason this was not displayed here and what Malta has to offer generally. After having spent all that money to send two men to Frankfurt for the week including accommodation and hiring part of the stand, except for some magazines which come free with the paper, there were only books printed by the firm, but not published by it, that had zero Malta connection. Malta can surely do better.

Coordinated effort crucial

Central coordination and readiness to cooperate is a prerequisite. No publisher or printer will or should risk going it alone, considering the cost of the stand plus accommodation of accompanying personnel. What is usually done by all the other European countries (except the UK, which has its own huge array of publishers) and also, for example, by those from South America, is that the federations of printing enterprises, publishers, book exporters/distributors and sometimes also authors, join forces and are additionally assisted by the relevant authorities. Also, the foreign and culture ministries or agencies for economic development (particularly the commercial aspect of printers and publishers) that want to promote the country and its culture join in and run this successfully. Hence costs can be split and kept low, while giving more participants the chance to present themselves/their product, and realise a more attractive presentation.

There are two options where to position a stand: on the one hand with the group of Anglophone countries (UK, USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia), but it might be better on the whole to position oneself in the field together with the many other European countries. This hall seems to be more frequented. It is not as big so one does not lose overview and leaves way more room for creativity as regards the stands. Furthermore, one is part of European diversity rather than core Anglo (or also Arab) sphere.

And with countries that are also involved in tourism, one should not forget the participation of the relevant ministry/authority/agency. This should be no problem for the MTA, which has one of its outstations located in the same city, should it?

So one could have a stand, never mind if it is not big, but is recognizable as Malta’s. This would present a variety of books from a variety of publishers and printing houses but in the majority with a Maltese context. In addition to this, one could also present some really more prominent and attractive examples of contract printing work. But indeed, additionally, if not primarily, there are also further benefits that go beyond the actual promoting of Malta as a printing contractor base.

Malta, the cultural tourism

destination

As regards the potential for marketing destination Malta, while a book fair is certainly no tourism fair, neither is a soccer stadium plenum. Malta has always, and particularly in recent years, positioned itself as a cultural tourism destination. Malta has a lot to offer in this respect, and additionally as a compact area. This is a field that Malta can be identified with more than with any other destination. During the last legislature this was even strikingly reflected in Cabinet responsibility, as indeed culture has synergies with both education and also tourism; it forms part of the marketing and sourcing mix of destination Malta more than with other destinations. The allocation of this field with either one or the other is however not the crucial point, as long as one ensures that there is a joint awareness of interdependence and uncomplicated cooperation. The restoration works undertaken in recent years, which mostly fell under another department, have been very important in multiple ways: securing national heritage, providing residents with a friendlier ambience, and improving the tourism product.

But anyway, one can assume that the group of visitors attending this fair is more interested in culture than the average and more ready to spend money on cultural events/products than the average consumer.

As a consequence, one establishes a marketing contact with people more interested in culture than the average person, and may be, potentially at least, also more affluent than the average, which are both very interesting for Malta as regards tourism, given that one aims for this kind of tourist, particularly in the off-peak months when bed nights spent in hotels still have potential for growth given the capacity framework. Furthermore, they might be more likely to appreciate Malta for its specialness rather than regarding it as one of many uniform destinations. They will also treat the material received with more interest – which is exactly what one wants to achieve.

So while the books and printed products are standing in the forefront, it is possible to put some brochures, illustrations and such like on the stand too. Many countries, such as Ireland, Slovenia, Liechtenstein, the Baltic States, to name just a few examples, have done this. Spain’s many regions had their own section on a huge area, e.g. the Balearic Islands. Naturally, Malta might only want to run a smaller stand, which however would be sufficient and a huge step forward. One should give it some design of course and not just place some books on a rack. Many other small countries have also shown what is possible. One certainly should not overdo it, as, after all, it is a fair for publishers and printers and not tourism, but within limits this definitely works, and maybe one could also motivate the publishers to select Melitensia books. If one discreetly promotes the cultural side of Malta, for example with its architectural heritage or rural landscape as background to the stand, and not just hang up posters of tourists on the beach or Paceville clubs, there should surely be no objection to it. To give two examples, the Irish Tourist Board offered brochures about visiting Ireland, and an audio CD to take home that dealt wtih discovering the Irish west and Heinrich Böll, the famous German author who had resided there. Slovenia had a small stand with a tourism promotion attendee on their impressive country stand where tourism brochures, tourist maps of the country, bookmarks and so on with distributed. Generally, as stated, the stands in the hall of the European countries provided more room for creativity and presentation.

Certainly, with such things one can never say how many tourists will come to Malta because of a certain publicity measure, but that is the case anyway with any advertising activity. It is hard to measure cost-revenue exactly for this single measure. The same goes also for football sponsoring by the way.

One also has to evaluate not just the number of contacts but the quality thereof. I have already mentioned the consumer profile.

Like with e-marketing, where one invites the potential consumer to surf the website of, say, the MTA, so will this keep him occupied and interested in the matter for a longer period of time where he discovers information on the product by himself. This has proven to be a key factor, as it could be way more intensive when the recipient has not just seen a short impression that lasts only a (few) second(s) and just sees a name with no information. When they have more time and the opportunity to directly interact, inform themselves, have a look at the book and its content, topics and so forth, their interest is aroused. Hence one has the right and more valuable/selected target group and more intensive and informative interaction than when advertising Malta with a stand, or in a football stadium, maybe even in places where the next airport linked to Malta is hundreds of kilometres away. Malta, with all due respect, is not exactly associated with football (others like yachting, where one promotes Malta as a yachting base/destination with a long naval tradition).

So in general, while there are certainly many other fields where Malta also excels, one might also consider bringing the capabilities of the Maltese printing industry more to international attention. As regards the books put on display, do this in a coordinated effort showing the diversity and furthermore is Malta-focused. While one should show some examples of the Maltese language, stress should be made on the vast range of local English-language products to give more access to the visitor. It could prove an excellent platform to present Maltese culture and Malta to a relevant/interested target group.

It appears surprising that the MTA, with a major station in the same city, with at least two flights per day, year-round, with Germany’s biggest airport located just 10 miles from the fair grounds, did not coordinate such an activity – particularly while being aware of the formal separation of ministry and authority, and, given the fact that during the last legislature tourism and culture were under the same ministerial portfolio, surely there would have been openness from that side. This should certainly bring much more than sticking billboards in places where the next directly connected airport with scheduled services is a couple of hundred kilometres away.

As said, no institution or enterprise should run it alone, and firms should not be left alone on this. After all they are all small SMEs with a limited budget, particularly publishers, who apart from business passion surely also have a lot of idealism. The idea is primarily to represent Malta, and this should also be reflected in funding. Nobody can directly measure the revenue brought as direct consequence of such an activity, at least as regards tourism; in the printing and publishing business field it might be different regarding established contacts leading to business, and of course also here one should not have too high expectations.

But a coordinated effort can bring both higher cost efficiency and create more attention, which Maltese printers, who have great know-how, competitive costs, and are nearer to the European market than printers in the PRC, definitely deserve. A core issue is showing Malta as a cultural destination in the international scene. If other countries that have way less to offer in printing, publishing, and as tourist destinations, can do so, Malta surely can do so too.