The Minister for Tourism Dr Edward Zammit Lewis attended the European Tourism Forum 2015 in Luxembourg as part of the main panel on the Joint Promotion of Europe via Transnational Thematic Tourism Products.

Dr Zammit Lewis stated that tourism is the main pillar of the Maltese economy and welcomed the Commission's continued commitment to the future of tourism in Europe. Moreover, the minister strongly believes that the competitiveness of European Tourism requires further strengthening.

The Minister for Tourism expressed his concern over the multiple disadvantages Malta faces ‒ its small size, insularity and peripheral location - which severely limit the effectiveness of Malta's efforts in long-haul markets when competing against larger countries that are more centrally-located European destinations and which benefit from direct airline connections through such markets.

During the panel discussion, various participants emphasised the importance of the concept of the public-private marketing partnerships, aimed at the promotion of transnational tourism products. To attract long-haul tourism, the Minister for Tourism insisted that EU governments should provide the leadership and necessary guidance to the private sector to develop the "hard" and "soft" tourism product, as well as to ensure coordination between the tourism entities and other elements such as immigration, health and transport entities.

The Minister for Tourism also stated that greater synergies are needed among different sectors within the tourism industry to ensure more competitiveness of the European Tourism Product. As an example, the minister mentioned the synergies that are currently being created in Malta between tourism and the film industry.

The minister emphasised the importance of greater efficiency in issuing visas and noted that the European Commission should allocate more financing to launch more effective marketing activities and develop transnational tourism products given the challenges in introducing a new and unknown destination in a distant geographical market.

Dr Zammit Lewis concluded by thanking the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the European Commission and the Luxembourg Secretary of State Francine Closener for the invitation to participate in the 14th European Tourism Forum 2015.