Updated 7.50pm, adds FATTA's reaction
Two new schemes to help boost digital marketing efforts by accommodation premises were announced on Friday by Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo, who said that the gradual roll-out of measures was meant to help attract more tourists to the island in line with business recovery measures available for the industry.
The first scheme is a rebate for digital marketing services for guesthouses, hostels, two-star hotels and holiday furnished premises, better known as self-catering apartments.
With a budget of €1.5 million, guest houses and boutique hotels will be eligible for up to €1,000 per property, two-star hotels up to €500 per property and self-catering apartments and licensed hostels up to €250 per property in rebates related to digital marketing costs spent on advertising to tourists.
The second scheme is aimed at the business tourism industry, with a budget of €4 million. Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions organised in Malta from now until the end of next year will be eligible for €75 per person for events where the spend per attendee is between €600 and €800 and €150 per person where the spend per attendee exceeds €800.
Events eligible for the scheme must have a minimum of 10 participants and spend a minimum of 10 days in Malta, with the incentive payable after the conclusion of the event.
The Minister said that the Malta Tourism Authority would be organising webinars next week that would provide more information for prospective applicants.
In reaction to a statement by the Association of Catering Establishments claiming that one in five restaurants had been forced to shut down over the past year, Bartolo pledged he would be looking into the true cost that the pandemic has had on catering businesses for evaluation and to see how best to help in any way possible.
Asked whether a definite timeline for the reopening of restaurants had been set, the minister said that discussions with the health authorities were still ongoing and a detailed announcement with guidelines on how the industry would be moving forward would be forthcoming in the coming days.
In a statement following the conference, the Gozo Tourism Association expressed its satisfaction at the scheme, adding that Gozitan accommodation units were being offered assistance in “their bid to place aggressively and competitively their respective establishments in a tight and intense market”.
“GTA beliefs that the various measures that are being announced during these times by the Ministry for Tourism and the Malta Tourism Authority are going to prove beneficial as this upcoming summer season is crucial for the survival of hotels, self-catering units, restaurants, diving and the tourism sector as a whole.”
FATTA reaction
The Federated Association of Travel and Tourism Agents (FATTA) also welcomed the scheme describing it as a “significant boost of encouragement” for local destination management companies.
Its direct result, FATTA said, was expected to peak in spring 2022.
They said that together with other stakeholders, they worked closely with the Tourism Ministry and the MTA over the past nine months to trigger the scheme.
Association president Iain Tonna said “this is arguably the most powerful of the tourism-related schemes announced so far in that the benefit cascades down the entire chain of local suppliers in this segment”.
“The timing of this announcement is welcome as it enables DMCs to pitch aggressively and competitively against other destinations for valuable MICE business in 2022 and possibly even in the last quarter of 2021 at a time when interest is picking up.”