This is a question I have come across from many people I talk to. What real USP do we have as an island for visitors? For the past 50 years we thought these islands were the centre of the Mediterranean when it came to promoting a sun and sea destination – indeed we believed that these islands had a monopoly on this natural phenomenon until we were shocked to find out that other countries in North Africa and the southern Mediterranean also have vast swathes of sandy beaches and blue sea. But then we persisted by trying to urge visitors to come here by focusing on price and availability (despite our strategy in the 1980s to develop the quality tourism destination, we still encouraged the “spaghetti and chips” brigade, the tourist who happened to be here because of price and availability not because of any cultural or quality aspect). Today we are looking for “mercenary tourists”, paying the potential tourist to come to Malta and Gozo. And what can these visitors really enjoy and experience here?
Look around you, we have a building and construction industry that is completely and utterly out of hand (verging on the illegal and the absurd in many places!); we have over 120 projects that are promoted through Infrastructure Malta, many of which are useless and short-term (just look at the so-called footbridges in Marsa that are out of place, gargantuan and hideous to look at). So is this what the visitor can expect from these islands? A building site, an island that has lost its natural and built landscape? An island that is based on the tourism industry not the socio-cultural activity of tourism? I sometimes wonder whether we are really serious about tourism or whether we are more interested in the short-term gains. Hospitality and service as qualities in our hotels, restaurants and service units seem to be totally irrelevant. So the question again: Why should visitors come to the Maltese Islands for a holiday or for any other reason? Think about this and let me have your replies here in the online blog related to this article or as an email. Meanwhile, I will spur you on by pointing towards some of the potential reasons why visitors should visit the islands.
1. There is no sign of the really mass markets one finds in places like Spain and Tunisia: the islands, because of their size, can offer a more personal destination.
2. We still have towns and villages and sites that are different to the grey and abstract cities one finds abroad.
3. The very idea of visiting an island can give one the perception they are escaping from the dreary home front.
4. There are still a few people who believe in hospitality and service as a quality.
But before we can work on these very basic USPs for the islands we need to think of a more integrated and long-term strategy to develop sustainability and responsibility that can improve the quality for the visitor and host community. Unfortunately, we have a long way to go and before we all understand the principles of civic tourism we cannot begin to think of a quality destination until we change this aggressive and sometimes unorthodox attitude between each other and visitors; we will continue to push visitors away from our shores (save those visitors that other destinations want to get rid of).
This week my recommendation for a better visitor experience includes the management of Mdina, the old walled town that once was the main city of the islands.
Recommendations for a better Visitor Experience – Part 2
Mdina – The Silent City?
When Professor Boissevain and Dr Sammut first presented their study on the impact of tourism on the resident population in Mdina (1995) to the National Tourism Organisation of Malta some of us were shocked that we had developed this Frankenstein creature called tourism. Mdina had become an iconic site that visitors were forced to visit as part of a tour programme devised in some back office by the tour operator. But Mdina is more than just an iconic site; it is synonymous with all that is Maltese in terms of culture, history and character. Here are just a few examples about how we can improve this town as a sustainable and quality site:
1. We need to have a strong management programme for tours to this town. This needs to be devised by academics (the University had developed the Heland Project including an interesting application for this town); practitioners and the local community.
2. We should ensure that numbers to the town are controlled (not capped) to ensure that visitors get the right experience.
3. Individual visitors and groups should be directed to a visitors’ centre, reception and interpretation centre before progressing into the town.
4. A Code of Ethics needs to be written up for all tour operators and guides to ensure visitors to the town behave correctly.
5. We should plan an events programme consisting of heritage and cultural activities such as concerts, artisan and melitensia fairs and pageantry that are professionally curated.
6. Finally, animated tours by trained and committed guides specialising in this site should be encouraged.
In my next article I will discuss the sense about reopening tourism sensibly and sustainably and I will look at how we can manage community-based tourism as an alternative market now that the trend is changing for sun and sea and holidays abroad.
Dr Julian Zarb is a researcher, local tourism planning consultant and a visiting senior lecturer at the University of Malta. He has also been appointed as an expert for the High Streets Task Force in the UK. His main area of research is community-based tourism and local tourism planning using the integrated approach