I sometimes wonder (actually this has turned out to be a permanent concern) who is the whizz kid that derives the tourism budget for these islands today? This week there was the discussion about the budgetary allocations for tourism in Parliament and I really asked myself, is this worth the effort? We do not even have any idea about investment in tourism; we lack the political will to develop careers for people in tourism; we have not offered any incentives for entrepreneurs today, as a way of overcoming the shutdown brought about by the pandemic. We still expect tourism to reopen as it was pre March 2020 – numbers, a total lack of sustainable principles and a destruction of the character, culture and heritage by the erratic, irresponsible development of roads and buildings across both islands. Very soon there will be no destination worth promoting. Very soon tourists may have to decide to visit other destinations that take this activity seriously; certainly this government has no intention of taking tourism seriously.

Let me start to give a brief analysis of what is wrong today:

1. Accommodation services

We are not interested in quality visitors; we are interested in packing people in anywhere. Our boutique hotels have no real classification and this issue has been ongoing for the past nine years. This means there is no specific regulations, standards and requirements for these unique accommodation services. In my last article I mentioned my experience at the four-star hotel in Qawra (in fact this hotel should honestly have been classified as a marginal three-star accommodation); this is predominant across the islands. Accommodation services no longer offer that real sense of luxury, warmth and comfort – we are just looking at giving the visitor the basic requirements without the added value. Perhaps this is a legacy of the tour operator who squeezed the life out of our tourism activity and reduced it to a commercial activity.

2. Hospitality and service professionalism

I have already mentioned the importance of investing in our people in tourism, but hospitality and service professionalism needs to be extended to all the public and private sectors and must be inculcated in our very lifestyle – we have turned into a country of arrogant, aggressive and sullen people (there are still some who do appreciate the value of real hospitality and service but these are too few to make the difference between a destination of quality and a destination of masses).

3. Value added experiences

We talk about value in economic terms instead of experiential values; we offer visitors the same run-of-the-mill sightseeing tours that are as interesting and as educational as a trip to a grey, urban city centre that lacks character and culture.  We need to add value to experiences by looking at the diversity I have been working for 10 years with the project, Meet the locals – an alternative form of tourism based on community-based tourism.

4. Management of tourism

We talk about tourism management, which means we can somehow run a hotel, restaurant or other service operation for visitors in a superficial and very rough manner. On the other hand, the management of tourism means that government, the Authority and the community work together to create a destination of excellence based on the principles of Local Agenda 21, which looks at the social, economical, infrastructural and cultural aspects rather than just the economic value of tourism. Management of tourism through this integrated approach needs to be consistent and continuous.   

5. Attention to the Climate Change impact from travel and tourism

Following the COP 26 in Glasgow many organisations, consultants and NGOs across the world are signing up to the declaration of Glasgow. This is definitely our last opportunity to save the planet. Travel and tourism have a great responsibility to ensure that a destination is not only safe and healthy for visitors and the host community but is also avoiding the climate change from irresponsible actions such as short-haul travel using unsustainable transportation as well as a clean and well-managed destination based on sustainable principles.

Recommendations for this and any future government for better investment in tourism

1. Take tourism seriously, invest in its people and entrepreneurs
2. Offer entrepreneurs the incentive to adopt sustainable practices and to go for quality rather than quantity
3. Adopt the integrated approach to planning based on a consistent and continuous process
4. Create a destination that will be the number one choice for quality not the second or third choice based on price and availability

Unfortunately, this year’s tourism budget is more of the same, it is lacking in initiatives to recharge tourism after the pandemic and it is showing lack of interest in long-term planning and management of tourism. Therefore, to sum it all up, it is about killing an activity that could make these islands a great destination.

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.