Last week, The Malta Chamber of Commerce issued a statement about Malta, and the tourism sector in particular. In this statement, it highlighted the need for Malta’s image to be fixed and rebuilt.

The statement followed a recent news article by British tabloid “The Sun”, which depicted Malta as the country where young holidaymakers are seeking “good food, cheap booze and legal weed”.

When the image Malta is giving off is that, then the country really does have a problem. Changing that image does fall under the government’s responsibility.

This image, the Chamber said, undermines more desirable avenues of tourism.

Let’s be honest, would we, as residents, rather be known to tourists for this, or as an island with a rich history, many sites and museums? Could we be known as both… maybe, but would families really prefer going to a party island over the so many other options in Europe? Would travellers seeking our historic sites come if we become known as an island of cheap booze and legal weed? That might be attractive for some tourists, but would be completely off-putting for others.

The Chamber highlighted another issue. It said that though the number of tourists visiting our islands may have increased, in real terms their spending power has decreased. “This is why the Malta Chamber has consistently urged authorities to prioritise quality over numerical influx and to promote Malta’s uniqueness in terms of culture, heritage and history. This requires efforts which go beyond marketing and PR strategies. Waste collection, cleanliness, order, enforcement, clean seas and beaches, upkeep of public areas, a stable energy supply and traffic are just some of the areas that need to be significantly invested in to attract tourists who look for quality experiences.”

“Immediate action from the authorities is required to revive Malta as a destination of choice by tourists looking for quality experiences. The preservation of our country’s appeal must supersede any transient allure of becoming a mere party hotspot,” the Chamber said later in its statement.

While on the topic of numerical influx, last year a study by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association showed that Malta will need to bring in 4.7 million tourists to cater for planned increase of hotels. That just doesn’t really sound sustainable for a country of our size.

Now ensuring that Malta has tourists year round, and not just during the summer months, is of course an important point to continue on with in terms of beating seasonality. But in general, we should try and present Malta as a destination that attracts tourists with a high spending power, as that would mean that we wouldn’t need to attract as many tourists to sustain the sector and help it thrive. If we focus too much on numbers, that means more construction, more crammed beaches, more stress on the country’s infrastructure.

But if we want to make a leap forward, we need to have a comprehensive tourism product. That means clean roads and pavements, proper and thorough enforcement of laws, clean beaches, less traffic and Malta cannot look like one big dusty construction site. Now there will always be construction sites, but perhaps this could be better screened.

Taking the garbage issue for instance, it’s been in the news a lot lately and what exactly have the authorities done to solve it? We’ve had multiple mayors saying that this is a serious problem, and these are mayors of tourism hot zones.