Our country must convey a
strong message that Malta is a
destination of all seasons
Our country must convey a strong message that Malta
is a destination of all seasons. We need to ensure that
visitors have an even wider range of events and activities to choose from to help position ourselves better
than our competition.
I am pleased to note that arrivals in January to March
of this year increased by almost 8% to reach 250,000.
Substantial growth was also registered in bed nights and
tourism expenditure, with the latter rising by almost 9%
compared to the previous year. The first quarter of 2015
also registered the highest increase ever recorded in per
capita expenditure for this period (January to March),
since 2007. When reviewing the trend over the two
years since this Government took office, the number of
tourists arriving in Malta & Gozo between the months
of January and March has risen by a significant 16%,
while tourist expenditure for these same months has
seen an even better increase of 17.4% since 2013.
These positive and optimistic results clearly demonstrate
that the overall policies and initiatives implemented by
Government for this sector are functioning well. However, one needs to also bear in mind the importance
and the necessity for improving the quality of our product. The tourism industry has established itself fi rmly
as the central pillar of Malta’s economy and a resilient
driver of economic growth. I believe that in order to
further build on this success, while we aim to maintain
its growth we also need to ensure we exploit new opportunities to face upcoming challenges and fierce competition from other countries that are all gearing up to
attract more tourism to their shores. Therefore, we will
direct more effort at improving the quality of the product on offer and increase quality standards of appeal to
more high-end tourists.
As stated within the National Tourism Policy 2015 – 2020
it is imperative to improve the aesthetics and the environmental quality of our tourism zones, the landscaping and
attention to the design and detail of our product.
"...arrivals in January to March of this year increased by almost 8% to reach 250,000"
INSIDER SPECIAL EDITION
2015
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