Government aims to boost niche markets

Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said that following a drop of 5,689 tourists, or of 3.2 per cent, in the first three months of this year, arrivals had started to recover in April.

Arrivals during that month were up by 11,600 and provisional figures showed that arrivals in May were up by another 4,300, he said.

He said that occupancy levels in hotels were picking up and he was informed that the occupancy levels for 5-Star hotels for the second quarter of this year were also up when compared with the same period last year.

Dr Zammit Dimech, who was speaking during a visit to the Barceló Resort and Spa, the latest addition to Malta's four-star establishments, said tourist stays at four-star hotels, which accounted for nearly 30 per cent of all guest nights last year, are on the increase.

He said that last year four-star hotel guest nights amounted to 3,132,299, or 29.5 per cent of all guest nights.

Although the annual occupancy rate of four-star hotels was at its best in 1999, when it stood at 76.3 per cent of tourism accommodation, the rate had dropped to 52.9 per cent by 2001 but started picking up again last year with 55.9 per cent occupancy.

Dr Zammit Dimech welcomed additions to the four-star hotel stock and congratulated the management of the Barceló Riviera Resort and Spa for its initiative and for investing in the "four-star superior" category.

The 179-room hotel, he said, provided a very quiet and relaxed environment just across the channel from Gozo and Comino with country and sea views, and boasted a diving centre that incorporated a well-stocked shop, classrooms and indoor training pool.

The diving centre, which offers courses from beginner to instructor level, fitted in with the government's plans to boost niche markets, of which diving was one of the most important as it attracted 60,000 divers and their families every year, he said.