Tourism authority picking up steam

The Malta Tourism Authority's restructuring was now complete, the Malta branding system was in the process of adoption and the MTA's strategic plan for tourism for 2006-2008 was ready for publication, Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said.

He said an important recommendation of the Deloitte report that paved the way for the restructuring had been the setting up of an inter-ministerial committee under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister.

This committee was addressing issues affecting the tourism sector but which cut across the responsibilities of different ministries.

Dr Zammit Dimech was speaking at the opening session of the annual conference of the MTA.

He said the Malta branding process was rapidly gaining momentum and the government had in this year's budget earmarked Lm500,000 as an initial investment towards this exercise.

Arrangements were being made to prepare the necessary documentation for the tender process within the framework of local and EU regulations.

In the meantime, MTA's advertising was being streamlined in all its source markets to be in line with the brand's core values that were established by the MTA, together with the industry, scheduled to be launched next January, Dr Zammit Dimech said.

The MTA's restructuring, he added, had been towards a leaner set-up that was better focused on its core roles.

As a result of the restructuring exercise the MTA's expenditure on advertising, marketing and promotion had increased from Lm5.1 million last year to Lm5.6 million this year and is set to increase to Lm6.3 million next year.

When the minister referred to the performance of the tourism industry, he said figures for the UK this year showed an increase of 32,768 tourists or 8.1 per cent.

These, he said, were the best figures for a 10-month period over the past 10 years.

Five new hotels with a bed stock of 1,844 beds and an investment of Lm30.5 million were launched this year and two new hotels and five extensions with an investment of Lm55 million were due to be inaugurated next year, the minister said.