The decision to open our airport for tourist arrivals from July is not in itself a guarantee for healthy tourist arrivals. I mean healthy in both senses. On one hand we need healthy numbers capable of sustaining the industry which has grown to depend on a massive 2.6 million visitors yearly, and we need healthy tourists to limit COVID-19 contagion.
The latter should remain our primary concern so as not to throw to the dogs all the effort made over the past eight weeks. That will also be fundamental for the wider acceptance by the Maltese public of tourism as the re-ignited motor of our economy.
Indeed, it used to sound like a cliché that tourism was the motor of our economy. Today we realise how much of that was true. Economic studies commissioned by the government show that this activity is estimated to sustain over 20,000 jobs directly, and a further 7,300 jobs through supporting activities.
One in every seven jobs in Malta is thus directly linked to tourism. The numbers that visited the archipelago annually up till last year are now a distant dream, much like the creative Malta Tourism Authority campaign urging tourists of tomorrow to dream about Malta. We need to work wisely and bring our efforts together to avoid this dream becoming a nightmare for hundreds of Maltese and Gozitan families whose livelihood depends on tourism and the leisure industry.
I would like to share some thoughts inspired by what I am observing overseas and through my participation in European fora. First and foremost it is clear to me that one should now reinterpret completely the balance between internal and external tourism. I regularly listen to some French and Belgian radio stations. Over the past weeks, whenever the subject of holidays is broached, the push in between the lines with listeners is to favour internal tourism.
This is perfectly understandable. Like us, the French and the Belgians, like the Germans and the British, have their own hotels and restaurants to fill, and thousands of jobs to sustain.
It used to sound like a cliché that tourism was the motor of our economy. Today we realise how much of that was true
This potential economic patriotism seems to be spreading efficiently. In a survey among 75,000 respondents this week in France, 90 per cent indicate their intention to have a holiday within the country. Almost half indicate that they would even limit themselves to their own region within France.
The Parisians can quench their desire to travel by visiting the Mediterranean coast or by travelling to the Alps.
The same applies to the Italians and the Germans. Given the evident push by key politicians, including Emmanuel Macron last week, as well as the press in France, Germany, Italy and all across our prime tourist markets in Europe, the demand for cross-border tourism is expected to fall, and drastically. Even if we were to be completely COVID-free as from July, it is naïve to think that Malta may attract the hundreds of thousands like we did before the virus.
While we can debate between us whether it makes any sense to open our airport yet, it is imperative to launch a fundamental rethink of our tourism strategy, for it may be futile to open our infrastructure for the large-scale tourism of 2019 when we are geared for a radically different market.
We urgently need an incisive strategy that more than ever before focuses on a number of niches. These include, but should not be limited to, diving, culture, history, water sports and adventure, trekking, agritourism and rural experiences. The strategy must address them in a consistent manner to attract pockets of tourists who may not always be satisfied by internal tourism.
These are forms of tourism that are normally practised in small groups. Apart from that, studies have shown that tourists in these niches are more willing to pay. This will allow us to attract to our islands small numbers of tourists that can be controlled vis-à-vis the virus but which at the same time leave more money per capita.
The push for alternative forms of tourism has also been promoted by European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton during a recent meeting at the European Parliament. The commissioner stressed that the ultimate goal is to reform and reinvent the tourism sector, and in fact, he proposed to hold a European Tourism Summit for sustainable tourism this autumn. Malta must be at the forefront and seek to lead in this direction.
Meanwhile, we should be ready to set aside the successful models that have worked for Malta in the past and rethink them in this new context. Once health considerations allow us to move we must be ready with a redesigned sales pitch. Every day lost now risks further prejudice to the thousands of jobs depending on the tourism industry.
Peter Agius is MEP candidate