The news that Ryanair is increasing the number of routes it flies to from Malta, along with the setting up of a new route to the Baltics by airBaltic is welcome news.

Back when Malta’s tourism arrivals had peaked, the problem was identified as accessibility and, to use industry slang, getting bums on seats.

As soon as Easyjet and Ryanair began to fly to and from Malta, the numbers exploded. Of course, there was an effect on Air Malta – but the fallout is being dealt with and it seems like the airline is on the way to recovery.

But the impact that the new routes had were immediately felt. Tens of thousands of new tourists became hundreds of thousands of new tourists as previously untapped routes suddenly found that Malta was a new destination to visit.

Malta, as a tourist destination, was no longer dependent on just the legacy carrier routes. All of a sudden, people from various catchment areas that were previously untapped could get to Malta from, more or less, their own doorstep.

Low cost carriers are volatile, and Malta may run the risk of them pulling out at short notice, or stopping routes because there is not enough uptake to render them profitable. But they are, on the other hand, more flexible and always looking to generate more traffic by opening up new routes. Before Ryanair and Easyjet started operations, the UK was serviced by London Gatwick, Heathrow, Manchester and Newcastle. When one considers that people had to drive for hours to get to those airports to be able to catch a flight here, it is no wonder that the numbers hit a plateau. As soon as the market opened up to people from Bradford, Leeds and other cities that were miles away from legacy carrier departure points, the numbers just snowballed.

In the meantime, we saw the introduction of Germanwings, Vuelling and other low cost airlines that began to fly into Malta. This created more departure points in other countries and is one of the reasons why the people who holiday in Malta are no longer just Brits, Italians and Germans.

We tend to think that Air Malta is the most strategic asset to our tourism product. Of course, it is, but there are other factors. As we have mentioned, there are low cost carriers and the Malta International Airport must also be commended for drawing in legacy carriers, for example negotiating the setup of a route between Malta and Tolouse, in the South of France. But if those seats are not filled, then all the hard work would be for nothing. As we said at the start of this leading article, bums on seats is a priority. And to secure those numbers, we must continue to offer a good product once people get here. There have been jokes made in the past about ‘Product Malta’, but all in all, we are on the right track. Often the government is criticized for merely quoting numbers – but on this one, the numbers really do speak for themselves.