Earlier this month I was in Corfu at the Ionian University to attend, present and chair a parallel session of the ICOT Conference.  As one might expect the theme was sustainable tourism and the management of tourism.  Once again, bring present at these conferences helped to develop the best practices and knowledge sharing.  This is one thing we do not do frequently here.  Many conferences act as a platform for politicians and business persons to air their own personal views of the industry and to laud themselves with how well they work and what excellent strategies they may have.  We need to be more critical and honest at these conferences.  That is why the ICOT Conference must spread the conclusions and recommendations outside the circle of the converted.

In today's article I will note a few observations about Corfu and the distinction between Malta and that Greek Island.

Sitting in one of the delightful squares of the old town of Corfu, surrounded by such wonderful architecture from the Venetian and British period, I could not help noticing the aimless tourist walking about , posing for a selfie in front of monuments which they could not understand or read the inscriptions of. These are the tourists that happen to be at this destination, these are the tourists the MTA and Ministry for Tourism are pleased to call a quality tourist. These are the tourists that any destination need to ensure they never allow to their destination.

Corfu is an island in the Mediterranean, like the Maltese Islands it is an important and busy tourist destination, like Malta it has a wealth of natural, urban and rural history and culture; but unlike the Maltese Islands it has a clean and pleasant town centre (where the local businessperson shows a sense of responsibility and pride), unlike the Maltese Islands the public transport is efficient and effective (they even use the bendy buses under the same weather conditions as the Maltese islands, on roads that are just as narrow - when I approached transport Malta to explain why there was a decision to stop these buses their reply was that "this is a political decision", I bet it was and I have an idea we now know why the political decision was taken, and it certainly was not social but very financial ands personal).

On the other hand the Maltese Islands have become far too commercial and arrogant towards the visitor; the attitude to hospitality and service is "take it or leave it" , there is no pride in anything you do for the visitor or your client.  You know in the five days I was in Corfu I could not count a single tower crane, there were very few construction sites and I must say I feltg a welcome there which is non existent here.

So if we really want to learn from other destinations we must change our attitude, our arrogant and sombre outlook and our sense of anything goes as long as we can fleece the visitor. 

I have prepared six recommendations for offering a destination that is welcome and inviting rather than pushing the visitor away:

1.       The visitor is not a number, statistic or product to be treated as a source of revenue, he or she is your guest and you need to treat the guest with respect and sincerity.

2.      There need to be an active sense of pride and awareness in your sense of responsibility towards the environment and management of tourism.  This is not an industry but is based on real hospitality and service.

3.      Th carrying capacity study needs to be kept alive and not prepared once every 20 years and forgotten. The quality of any destination depends on the type of tourist, the numbers of tourists, the added value offered to tourist and the state of the destination.

4.      Follow the policy of the tourist who wants to be at the destination not those who happen to be there.

5.      Ensure that the government and authorities are managing tourism by consulting with all stakeholders and acting professionally rather than in the apathetic way they are today.

6.      Finally, as I always say, you are responsible for the tourism activity as a socio-cultural activity - act responsibly.

By following these six stages, we can ensure that these islands are managed professionally, sustainably and with the idea of developing a quality activity that attracts the visitor who wants to be here not the one who wants to be here.  Travel and Tourism to these islands today is about quantitative gains for the greedy and uncouth.  We need to put professionalism and hospitality back in the equation.

Dr Julian Zarb is a researcher, local tourism planning consultant and an Academic 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.