The Malta Tourism Authority recently organised an educational seminar on the EU funded Sibit project (sustainable interregional bike tourism). This project was successfully launched in October 2011 in partnership with the Local Councils Association, the University of Polo in Agrigento and five provinces in Sicily – (Trapani, Ragusa, Syracuse, Agrigento and Caltanissetta).
Invitations for the seminar were issued through MHRA, FATTA, GTA and the Malta Cycling Federation to hotel front office managers and staff, incoming handling agents and local bike service providers.
The audience at the seminar was addressed by Suzanne Cassar Dimech, head sports tourism segment at MTA, who along with the project coordinator (Malta), Alfred Triganza, gave an overview of the objectives of the project along with the milestones achieved so far.
Ms Cassar Dimech explained that the close proximity of the Maltese islands and Sicily lends itself to the promotion of a two-point destination holiday. The bike tourism niche was identified due to a deficiency of adequate and pertinent hospitality structures, infrastructures and services in the bike tourism sector. Through this project, infrastructural initiatives were undertaken to facilitate the new operational activities which would enable the promotion of a standard bike tourism product in Sicily and the Maltese islands as a form of sustained tourist development.
Commenting further Ms Cassar Dimech said, “The scope of the project was in line with the MTA’s recent focus on developing the rural aspect of Malta and Gozo as an experience for visiting tourists. Bike tourism is a non-traditional and eco friendly way of exploring the Maltese islands’ rich heritage. Moreover due to our moderate climate there is the propensity to promote outdoor activity outside of the normal high season that would ultimately benefit the tourism sectors of both Malta and Sicily.”
The seminar attendees were also updated on the main milestones of this project including: the identification and creation of trans-border routes between Sicily and Malta extending beyond 1,000km, out of which two are located in the west side of Malta and a circular one around Gozo; the creation of internationally recognised signage along the route; adaptation of areas within nine accommodation establishments to provide specific services to bike tourists; and the production of promotional material, website, guide book and packages which are used during promotional drives at specialised fairs.
Other speakers at the seminar included Dr Luca Burruano – project coordinator (Sicily); Architects Frank Muscat and Angela Sciberras; Martin Morana – MTA; and Andrew Galea and Dennis Debono – members of the Cycling Expert team.