There was great news for the tourism industry last week. On the same day that the Malta International Airport announced that, for the first time ever, more than 400,000 passengers arrived or left from Luqa during July, National Statistics Office figures showed that during the first six months of this year tourist arrivals had increased by 11 per cent.

The 400,000 number was surpassed at MIA in July, which is normally the second-best month after August. And so, now one awaits the August figures to see whether the trend that has started will continue.

MIA CEO Julian Jaeger said that the July statistics confirm the positive outlook that the company was predicting. In fact, the results of the first seven months of this year also show an increase in passenger movements of 11.5 per cent. It must be remembered that the MIA records include the number of Maltese who travel to and from the airport, and should not be confused with the number of tourist arrivals.

After a period of difficulty which coincided with the international recession, which by and large discouraged many from going on holiday abroad, it seems that the positive results that Malta had started to achieve before the crisis hit are coming back.

This is also proven through the NSO figures for the tourism industry. The numbers are there for all to see. We had the best June ever, with 136,758 tourists coming over, and overall the number of tourists in the first six months increased by 11 per cent.

Although the average number of nights fell marginally, the tourists who are visiting Malta have spent more.

It is clear that the opening up of more routes to and from Malta – the country is now linked to 76 airports – has helped improve the results. The presence of low-cost carriers is no longer a controversy and these have also contributed to bring about important changes to the industry. Air Malta is also playing its part, as the national carrier’s services continue to expand in its efforts to deal with the competition.

These results put Malta top of the list in the Mediterranean, but this does not mean that we should rest on our laurels and think that all our problems have been solved.

As Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Mario de Marco knows well, the tourism industry is a very fragile sector. And now that we seem to have lifted ourselves out of the difficulties we were encountering last year – even though it must also be said that Malta’s performance during the crisis was not as bad as that experienced by other countries – we must continue to give our best to each and every tourist who lands here.

The government must continue to invest in the industry, and see that all the stakeholders involved are giving their share.

In particular, it must try to make the going easier for the hotel industry which, in spite of these results, is still finding fault with the energy tariffs and other issues which are dampening any increase in profits they are making. To have MHRA president George Micallef say that, in spite of the rise in numbers, the results will more or less be the same as those of last year means that there are things that need to be corrected. The rise in costs is affecting the hotels’ competitiveness as these added expenses have to be transferred onto the clients.

Still, it is clear that the rough times have been overcome and Malta can look forward to a much improved situation. The challenges remain, and these should not be taken lightly.