A D V E R T I S I N G S U P P L EME N T
Island inthesun
agrowingappreciation
of the
country’sbusinessservicessector
andacommitment to reenergising its
manufacturing industriesdoesnotmean
Maltahas lost sightof oneof its traditional
economicdrivers. Tourism remainsbig
business inMalta,withvisitorexpenditure
exceeding€1.3billion in2013alone.
Visitor spend, arrival numbersand total
bednightshave longbeen the island’skey
indicatorswhenassessing thestateof its
industry–andall threesaw recordyears
in2013–but tourismministerDrEdward
Zammit Lewisalsohasother targets in
mind. “Weneed todiversify. There is
tourismout there thatwehavenever
managed toattract toour island–quality
tourism, forexample, inwhichpeople
would ratherchooseNice, StTropezor
someotherdestination,”hesays. “Such
effortshave tobemade througha joint
collaborationbetweenvariousentities
related to tourism.Mymainpriority isa
quality leap in tourism, promptingbetter
results inourfight against seasonality.”
To thisend, theMaltaTourismAuthority
(MTA), under the leadershipofCEOPaul
Bugeja, hasbeenpromoting thecountryas
ashort-staydestinationwithanemphasis
on itscultural offering. Earlysignsare
promising: inApril, a tourismshoulder
month, visitornumberswereup 11%–12%
from2013 to2014, according toMalta’s
National StatisticsOffice.
This is set toget a further boost in
2018,when the islandcapital, Valletta,
servesas theEuropeanCapital of
Culture, therebyofferinganewplatform
for theMTA toget itsmessageacross. A
number of projects arealreadyunderway
toget thecity ready, including the
constructionof anewcitygate.
TheMICEmarkethasalsobeen
identifiedasanopportunityof extending
tourismoutsideof peakseason. Everyyear,
Maltawelcomesnearly 100,000business
travellers–whoalso typicallyspendmore
than theaverage traveller, according to the
MTA–drawnbyconferencecentressuch
as theMFCCand theHilton, and luxury
“Mypriority is
aquality leap
in tourism,
improving
results inour
fightagainst
seasonality”
Minister Zammit Lewis
Tourism remainsoneofMalta’s key industries, fuelledbyaclimate,
cultureandcharacterwhoseeffectsarealso felt in real estate
IN 1980, VALLETTA WAS RECOGNISED AS A
UNESCOWORLD HERITAGE SITE
MinisterEdwardZammit Lewis
