This week the news was focused on spreading goodwill and cheer.  This is all well and good but we must not veer off the important fact that this country is suffering from political insecurity, a real malady that can bring about social and economic disaster.

Tourism may be the first victim if the news continues to spread of devious and underhand activities that have led to the charging of very senior civil servants. I have stated a number of times that tourists want to look for destinations that are safe and free from unrest of any kind.  Even if that unrest is hidden and overshadowed by irrelevant or trivial news that is simply smoke screens. 

In my article this week, I thought I might speak about the New Year resolutions we need to rebuild or rethink, restore and redevelop a tourism industry to be proud of, a destination that expresses its real hospitality and service clearly and effectively.  But for this to happen we expect radical and critical change - we have to be ruthless, we must be cruel to be kind here and "call a spade a spade." no more pussyfooting, no more sugar-coated comments and armchair critics, now is the time for action!

So how do we start to accomplish our resolutions with real commitment and consistency?  First of all we should all sit down - government and opposition, businesses and the local community and set up a forum that will discuss, communicate, and draw conclusions together. 

This is a national issue, tourism can really bring people together, it can push aside divisions brought about by politics, it can act as a subject of similar ideas, thoughts and policies. Tourism is an apolitical activity, so let us use this as a bridge between us all - forget the trivial disagreements we may have, let us focus on a management strategy for tourism that unites. Here are my six points for implementing our resolutions for a successful, sustainable, and quality tourism that should rid us of the parochial and egocentric ways in which we turn tourism into a cash cow for personal gain rather than national pride and benefit:

1.     The first resolution is to set up a citizen's forum to discuss, develop and manage tourism together with the politicians, authorities and businesses on a continuous and consistent basis.

2.     Create effective systems for managing and monitoring the implementation phase across the islands.

3.     Communicate with the Citizen's Forum members continuously to avoid stakeholder fatigue.

4.     Create the inter-ministerial committee that was set up (and disbanded) after 2013. This committee should meet regularly with the Citizen's Forum to ensure seamless coordination for tourism management.

5.     Ensure that tourism training institutions provide the basis for vocational, operational, and academic knowledge that will motivate, incentivize, and create the basis for innovation.

6.     Finally, let us go forward together in planning any tourism policies - this role does not belong to public officers, politicians, and authorities but is an activity that will enhance our national and collective quality of life - this way we may finally see the light at the end of the grimy tunnel we have come through the last years.

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.  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.