Given the "successful scenario that Malta is going through", Malta can start to take a directional and more targeted approach towards the kind of tourist it wants to attract, the Tourism Ministry told The Malta Independent on Sunday.

The Ministry was addressing a question on whether the government believes Malta should focus on attracting fewer tourists who spend more. The Ministry said that the reality is "very different from simplistic assumptions that betray fundamental misconceptions of how the industry functions". Tourism flows depend on a multiplicity of factors and contain complex inter-relationships, it said. 

"Just like the icing on the cake cannot survive without the cake beneath it and an airline needs a mix of economy and business class passengers to operate, achieving higher yields can never be a question of less of one and more of the other. We need to continue to manage our tourism with a view to maximising its returns and attracting diminishing shares of less attractive tourism categories. This will need to continue going on until the desired equilibrium is reached."

"This means that rather than simply trying to attract an increasing number of tourists, the country is striving to attract a higher number of quality tourists."

When including this number within the existing tourism equation, the ministry said "this means that we are looking to attract a higher-yielding tourist to Malta without increasing unnecessary stress on the country as a whole".

"Given the current successful scenario that Malta is going through, the country can start to take a directional and more targeted approach towards the kind of tourist we want to attract. A case in point is the US market, with the period January-July seeing a 22.4% increase over the same period of last year."

In 2023, inbound tourists for the year amounted to 2,975,670, and this year it is looking as though the country will exceed the three million figure. Asked whether the country has reached its maximum tourist capacity, the Tourism Ministry said that maximum tourism capacity is not an absolute number which one "simply arrives at by computing a figure for the annual number of tourists visiting".

It depends on many factors including actual volumes, average length of stay, time of the year when the visit takes place, localities stayed in and visited, and activities undertaken, among others, the Ministry said.

"It also depends on the destination's hosting capacity and the level of utilisation of key infrastructural services from air, land and sea transport to energy, water, sewage and waste generation. The country needs a critical mass of tourists to sustain the level of investment done over the years, however, at the same time one cannot say that Malta and Gozo can welcome an unlimited number of tourists every year," the Ministry said.

"This brings us to the element of host population sentiment and visitor satisfaction." These are elements which collectively contribute to the estimation of so-called maximum tourist capacity, the Ministry said. 

It added that within all these variables there is always the possibility to increase receptive capacity through expansion/investment such as in the case of transport, energy, water and waste management.

"It is also possible to channel tourism activity into areas, activities or times of the year when impacts are lower, thus enabling a more efficient absorption of tourism activity. Host population sentiment and visitor satisfaction both need to be monitored and concerns arising from such monitoring need to be addressed. All this implies that the country can still sensitively continue to seek ways to maximise tourism activity, moving away from simply increasing the numbers to increasing the quality of the tourists who visit our islands thus ensuring sustainability for the tourism industry."

Higher quality

As for whether the government's plan is still to move towards attracting higher quality tourists, the Ministry said that quality "must not be confused to mean simply higher spend".

"A quality tourist is one whose expectations for a Malta visit match very closely with what the destination can best offer. This creates a situation where the tourism that the destination attracts creates a demand for its tangible and intangible offers and experiences, thus creating a relationship between the host and the visitor. A quality tourist seeks more unique and authentic experiences in diverse destinations and is thus selective and would be willing to also pay a premium for such experiences."

The ministry said that as a destination Malta continues to depart further from its previous positioning as a low-price, summer-only beach destination targeting older tourists, "into one where the share of visitors who are currently attracted for a 'sun-only' holiday stood at a very low 16.2% of total in 2023 with the remainder visiting for combinations of cultural, business, scuba diving, special occasions, wellness, other sports activities and educational reasons".

The ministry said that the strategy currently being executed is to continue to widen the non-"sun-only" elements, into even more highly specialised niches, mentioning extracting "gastronomy" from the more generic "culture" or introducing luxury experiences where clients seek unique visits in luxurious settings as examples.

"This approach attracts a larger share of tourists who know what they are seeking from their Malta trip and consolidates Malta's positioning as a quality tourism destination."

Government working on measures to find solutions 'to the situation of tourism accommodation capacity'

Regarding the possibility of a moratorium on new hotel developments - an idea raised over the years, including by the Malta Chamber of Commerce in 2021, which advocated for a pause on tourism accommodation applications to prevent oversupply - the ministry stated that such moratoria may offer short-term relief but ultimately distort the market in the long term "apart from not being something that can be applied indefinitely. The government is currently working on a set of measures aimed at addressing the high level of investment being attracted by the tourism accommodation sector with a view to finding long-term solutions to the situation of tourism accommodation capacity".

Turning to whether the country has the infrastructure needed to handle a growing number of tourists, it said that infrastructure, unlike physical space or for example, the number of heritage attractions, is something that can always be extended and expanded.

"This does not mean that this can take place ad infinitum, but that expansion of infrastructural facilities is a valid way of coping with the demands of an increased human presence and activities including tourism."