In my last article I wrote about the method we need to adopt if we want to engage professional-career builders instead of simply job-seekers for the hospitality and tourism activity. Well last week we must have all heard about the press conference to launch a strategy for tourism that does not even include an action plan or way forward. I was grossly disappointed that the strategy included many of the proposals that I have been writing about in these articles since 2020 (including the three Rs for reopening tourism) without a word of acknowledgment to my previous work and research on that subject. This reproduction without my knowledge does not augur well for an inclusive and proactive looking strategy for an activity that needs to be integrated and needs to involve all stakeholders.

First of all a tourism strategy needs to encourage investment at a social and cultural level not simply at an economic level to satisfy a few unethical businesses set on making a quick return on investment in the shortest time possible; then there is the present situation on the islands with erratic building and construction that is destroying the typical and indigenous Mediterranean and Maltese and Gozitan character that once attracted visitors to these islands; there is the obsession with road-building to accommodate more and more drivers (this is destroying the little rural countryside we have) and above all there is the drive for numbers for tourism instead of quality (the strategy speaks of quality tourism but I very much doubt the authors really knew what this meant!). Quality tourism can attract less visitors but can present a better destination; working with developers and the construction industry to preserve the character and culture of the islands will certainly be far more beneficial if we really take sustainability and responsibility seriously.

I really have no idea whether, once again, this article will fall on deaf years or not. We have already passed the point of no return when it comes to sustainable tourism and responsible tourism today; the damage that has been done over the last eight years is certainly irreversible. But perhaps there is a chink of light in the long dark tunnel if we all do our part in making this change happen.

I was not impressed with this strategy because it simply signified a superficial drive to reopen tourism as we were in pre-pandemic times, looking for growth that is unplanned; ignoring the principles of a serious carrying capacity study and an industry that looks for quick profits based on a total lack of professionalism, hospitality and service. One can see just how the industry thinks right now, in the middle of this pandemic – we are back to packing people into outlets, without any social distancing, no masks or other protocols to observe – utter irresponsibility!

I would like to see a serious strategy that looks at tourism as that quality, socio-cultural activity that attracts the visitor who really wants to be here instead of the one who is here because of price and availability; but for this to happen you need a serious group of stakeholders including the government, authorities, businesses and the local community.

Recommendations for a better investment in tourism

My recommendations from now on are going to be very simple, generic and plain; if there is any interest whatsoever for anyone – authority, politician or stakeholder who wishes to know more about the methodology or way forward for such a recommendation then we can discuss that together in more detail.

Any strategy for tourism should not:

1.                  Be planned in isolation of the needs and participation of all the key stakeholders including the community.

2.                  The strategy should have a proper monitoring or review process made up of academics and the key stakeholders working with existing organizations, such as the OTIE, the IOH Med Group and other professional associations.

3.                  An inter-governmental group needs to be set up again (as it was about 15 years ago) to control building and development work and other infrastructural projects that can harm tourism.

4.                  Finally the strategy needs to be long-term (nine years can hardly be described as long term!) and should look for real quality and not a superficial sense of quality.

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.