The tourism authority should provide a breakdown of how it intends to spend the budgeted €62 million for marketing material since taxpayers deserve to know where their money is being spent, PN MP Mario de Marco said in Parliament. 

According to the financial estimates for this year the total expenditure for tourism is budgeted at €137 million. 

“Marketing costs are budgeted at €62m - the biggest expense of the MTA… this is money coming from the taxpayer. The MTA must provide a breakdown of these expenses. It cannot remain the Secret of Fatima.  Whenever I’ve asked about how this was spent, in the past, I never received a reply,” he said adding the MHRA had also requested transparency on which operators were benefiting from this and why.

De Marco added that there should also be objective criteria in place in terms of how this money is spent. 

He was speaking in parliament during a discussion on the Malta Tourism Authority Financial Estimates 2024.

Estimates forecast a total spend of €137m of which €50m goes to route development to attract more airlines. Marketing costs were budgeted at €62m, product development at €9m while payroll and administrative costs were budgeted at €12m, up from last year’s €9m.

De Marco noted that payroll alone was up from €6.8m to €9m and asked for an explanation on this.

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo concluded the discussion. The tourism industry was the bread and butter of thousands of people, he said.

Results showed that the work of the MTA was yielding results - so the expenditure of the MTA was justified.

The brand Visit Malta was synonymous with a quality tourism product.

The focus was to attract more tourists who had more spending power and this was by promoting Malta is specific niche markets including gastronomy, religious tourism, diving, English language for professionals, diving and cultural events.

To achieve these results, the authority was updating the marketing department, he said.