The Hon Francis Zammit Dimech, Minister For Tourism And Culture gave the opening speech at the 49th Annual General Meeting of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association held at the Intercontinental Hotel on 1 November 2007. The programme also included a presentation by the MTA's Marketing Department, which is available for download as a [pdf]. The presentation was produced by Mr Leslie Vella with assistance from Mr Joe Galea, Director of International Marketing, who delivered the presentation.

Minister's speech for the Annual General Meeting of the MHRA

President, Council members and Members of MHRA, it is my pleasure to be addressing this forty-ninth annual general meeting.

If life is an endless learning process then politics is a tough but enlightening classroom. These past three years I have learnt so much. I learnt to appreciate more the complex nature of the tourism industry. I learnt about the heavy commitment of the industry stakeholders and the passion with which they operate. But the most important lesson I learnt, a lesson I hope we have all learnt, is that this industry works better if all stakeholders are pulling in the same direction.

I am sure you heard the saying “Success has many fathers”. A less famous saying states that when things go wrong it is the Minister for Tourism’s fault. Even though I do not subscribe to the second saying I will say that the positive results we are reaping today are the result of a collective effort. We are all fathers of the good results we are reaping today. These results came after three years of struggling to realign our industry with the developments that are happening worldwide. To put it mildly, the struggle was not always easy. However, even during the most difficult moments, I remained steadfast in my belief that Malta has all the right ingredients to succeed. I knew then as I do now that we have what it takes to compete even under the new rules of the game. We could win. And winning we are.

Tourist arrivals and tourism expenditure are up. Perhaps more relevant to this audience today, room rates are significantly up pushing up the gross operating profit of hotels.

Our tourism industry needed to adapt to two important radical changes, low cost travel and the increased use of internet as a travel booking medium. These changes hit directly at our core business. We met and discussed, perhaps some would say for too long, on how to deal with these developments. We considered many alternatives and finally agreed on what we believed was the best way forward. This we did during the numerous meetings my Ministry had with the MHRA and other stakeholders as well as during the Consultative Group meetings that have been taking place on a regular basis.

• We agreed on how to introduce low cost carriers as part of our tourism mix.
• We agreed on a new tourism policy and plan.
• We agreed on the need to make Malta’s presence on the internet more strongly felt.
• We agreed on the need to increase access to Malta.
• We agreed on the need to change the way Malta is advertised abroad.
• We agreed on the need to have a strong and varied programme of events.
• We didn’t stop at agreeing. We implemented what we agreed upon and are witnessing today the results of our deeds.

Looking back I am proud to have played a role in:

• the introduction of low cost carriers such as Ryan Air, German Wings, Click Air and Norwegian Air Shuttle;
• the creation of two new beaches in San George’s Bay and in Bugibba;
• the selection of a pan-European company to handle Malta’s marketing abroad;
• the publication of a national tourism policy and plan;
• the implementation of a Grant scheme, co-funded by the EU structural funds, which assisted fifty five tourism enterprises carry out tourism related initiatives;
• the creation of a world-class events calendar that rivals that of major European cities;
• ensuring a record budget allocation of Lm 10.5 million to MTA; and, in
• the preparatory work of a number of projects such as the planned visitor attraction in Qawra and the Garden City project in Floriana.

These achievements however are no guarantee of future success. We cannot be complacent. We have to continuously adapt to the changes that are happening in Malta and beyond. Only then can we remain competitive. It is the inevitable nature of economic activity to face problems but then good governance is not about not having problems, it is about facing these problems and turning them into opportunities. Some new challenges such as the rising cost of fuel and cereals are already becoming apparent. Other challenges can emerge. What if the concept of low cost travel is expanded to low cost holidays? What if new competition comes on line from North Africa and more distant countries such as China? Our answer, based on our economic reality, can only be one: to offer higher value to our visitors. We must search and offer excellence.

This idea of excellence was strongly emphasised by the Deputy President of the European Commission, Gunther Verheugen during the 6th European Tourism Forum that has recently taken place in Algarve Portugal. A Maltese delegation led by my Permanent Secretary attended this Forum. I am pleased that your President was able to take up my invitation to form part of this delegation. This Forum launched Commission Communication entitled ‘Agenda for a Sustainable and Competitive European Tourism’. This Communication is in its greater part based on the work of a Working Group set up over two years ago at a European level to prepare guidelines on tourism sustainability. My Ministry was instrumental in financially supporting MHRA’s representative on this Group and MHRA had succeeded in achieving this opportunity through HOTREC.

Excellence means going for the best. It means looking beyond the obvious and immediate. Our industry’s future depends not only on the profits of those, including Government, who invest in this sector; it depends on our ability to respect and protect the environment, the culture and the social fabric that form the basis of our tourism offering. I can think of few worse things than throwing around some magic numbers without taking into account these basic principles of sustainability.

Having said that, we have – collectively – good reason to be proud of the fact that in the first nine months of this year, we had already achieved a growth of nearly 80,000 tourists, and of Lm 20 million – more than spent by tourists in Malta for the same period last year. Passenger movements for October clearly indicate that this growth will be sustained and strengthened. Forecasts for the coming months remain encouraging, much as we should and shall keep our feet on the ground.

This is not to say that we cannot grow further. We can increase the income from tourism and we must do so in a manner that ensures a future for the industry. There are challenges that we must address immediately, issues such as stronger enforcement of existing laws and regulations. We also have to improve our product offering. The coming months should see a surge of investment in upgrading projects funded in part from the record sum of money that Government is this year dedicating to tourism and in part from eighty million euros of European Regional Development Funds.

The investment in tourism is being made: investment in new routes; investment in increased marketing and advertising and investment in product improvement. This investment will give us the desired result if we continue on this road the way are doing now: united in vision, united in deed. Together we shall continue winning.