Malta to launch global tourism marketing campaign

The Malta Tourism Authority will launch a "global" marketing campaign next year thanks to agreements with the Discovery Channel and the Travel Channel which will transmit 1,000 spots of 30 seconds each about Malta, Tourism Minister Michael Refalo told parliament yesterday.

He said the transmissions would be beamed to all of Europe (except France), North America, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Japan and China for a potential audience of 214 million.

The campaign would kick off on January 3 and continue throughout all of next year. Twelve languages, as well as dubbing, would be used.

Three half-hour programmes about Malta would also be transmitted to all those countries by those channels.

Speaking during the budget debate on the ministry of tourism, Dr Refalo said that unless tourism fell victim to terrorism or some catastrophe, performance next year was expected to reach the records achieved in the year 2000.

He said air capacity from the UK would rise by 15 per cent next year, which was a good augury. Air Malta would also have more flights from France.

There appeared to be an increase in capacity from Holland and small reductions from Belgium and Scandinavia.

The Russian market was expected to grow and Air Malta would introduce a scheduled service to St Petersburg.

Dr Refalo said that UK winter bookings for Malta holidays were up by 13 per cent for winter and by 20 per cent for the summer.

The situation in Germany was not encouraging, particularly because of the state of the economy and the recent incidents in Bali and Mombasa, but there were substantial increases for the months after winter.

The situation in Holland and Scandinavia was not reassuring, although no declines were expected.

He said Malta would be hosting a number of major conferences next year, including one by the UK's Institute for Travel and Tourism which would group 400 decision-makers.

Dr Refalo said Malta needed to attract more young people, families with children and elderly people.

Malta needed better-equipped complexes to cater for families with children, and the redevelopment of the White Rocks complex would have this aim in mind.

As for young people, Malta did not want to emulate Ibiza or Aya Napa in Cyprus. Thus, while it would not be wise to hold a party every day, it would also be a mistake not to go into the partying scene for young people with parties similar to those held by MTV during the summer. The MTA would help in the promotion of such activities.

When he spoke on performance this year, Dr Refalo said performance this year was expected to show a drop of under four per cent, or 40,000 tourists. This was a better than expected performance, since the decline had been projected at some seven per cent.

Like other destinations, Malta had continued to suffer from the effects of a global economic slowdown and the September 11 events. But recovery was well on the way and the number of arrivals in October was an all-time record. Performance in November was up by six per cent on the same month last year, with increased arrivals in both months and during the summer from the four main markets - the UK, Germany, France and Italy. Indeed, Malta was recovering faster than competing destinations.

The minister observed that between 2001 and 2004 the Tourism Authority would have received Lm34 million from the government.

Dr Refalo in his speech underlined the importance of EU membership for the tourism sector. He said accession would mean Malta would become more competitive as member states waived taxation on holidays to Malta.

EU membership would mean easier access to Malta, not least because of the Open Skies agreement Air Malta would benefit from, as well as the open frontiers guaranteed under the Schengen agreement.

EU membership would lead to higher standards and greater investment in tourism. The adoption of the euro would make it easier for tourists to compare prices and they would no longer suffer exchange rate fluctuations and bank charges. Participation in EU events would mean greater exposure for Malta.

Dr Refalo said the MLP's option of partnership with the EU was vague and would bring no benefits for tourism. Dr Sant had said the partnership would enable Malta to attract tourists from other markets as well. Yet Malta was already doing so, North America and China being two examples, and this would continue even after accession.

Dr Refalo said tourism performance in the worst 22 months of this government was still better than in the 22 months of the Labour government.

Referring to remarks made earlier by Mr Karmenu Vella (MLP) Dr Refalo said that occupancy levels in hotels in every category had improved. Five-star hotels this year had done better than last year.

The minister praised the Institute for Tourism Studies, saying it now had 1,000 full- time students and had this year trained another 1,000 who already had a job. The pass rate for City and Guilds exams was 96 per cent.

He said sea water quality this year was the best ever. He said hotels in Gozo were also doing better. The developer of a proposed heritage park and golf course at Ta' Cenc had submitted his development application to MEPA.