I refer to the article ‘Our two- and three-star hotels need upgrading’ (TMID, 4 November).

The article quotes Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco calling upon “all owners of two- and three-star hotels scattered all over Malta and Gozo to ‘apply and use the money to upgrade and refurbish their hotels. Despite the positive figures for tourism this year, competition is tough in the Mediterranean region and is becoming tougher each year.’ ” Dr de Marco is right with his comments and suggestions, but apparently is not in close touch with the tour operating sector where competition is focusing strongly on the sustainability aspects of hotels. 

All Dutch tour operators already work in line with the Travelife standards obligatorily, and Tui Travel has announced it will drop hotels that do not sign up to the industry’s sustainability programme Travelife by 2014.

Instead of merely upgrading the hotels with entertainment facilities such as “games or gym areas”, all hotels should register in the Travelife Sustainability System free of charge and complete the checklist.  They then obtain advice on what to improve and how to do it, so it will enable them to invest in various sustainability aspects of the hotel and gain the Travelife certification.  

This certification will provide them with worldwide publicity and will guarantee long-lasting contracts with reliable tour operators from the UK, Holland, Germany, Belgium etc.  Moreover, it’s an innovative approach and it will position Malta and Gozo as sustainable (good-quality) destinations.

Silvia Hendriks