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Matthew Vella
A survey conducted amongst 25,000 readers of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph has found Malta to be the third most disappointing holiday destination, an ‘award’ listed in the British newspaper’s annual travel awards. Telegraph readers are the traditionally the (big C) Conservative, affluent middles class Brits. The ones one would encounter in the Phoenicia lobby years ago.
In 2003, Malta had been rated as the second most disappointing destination. New entrants Andorra and Gibraltar scooped up the first and second positions while Malta is followed by Belgium and Jamaica.
Reasons for Malta’s abysmal rating is unclear, but shabbiness, pollution and bad service could be one of the many reasons.
The data from the returned questionnaires was processed by market research agency NOP World, where responses were weighted according to factors that included the total number of times a destination had been visited by readers and what proportion of those who had visited it rated it as good, bad or indifferent.
Despite continuing threats from terrorism, passengers were found to have become more “bullish” in their attitudes towards travel. In 2003, 89 per cent said they had not changed their travel plans because of war or terrorism. This year, a resounding 94 per cent said they had not changed plans, a confirmation that external shocks to the tourism industry, including Malta’s, are not necessarily to blame for decline in market shares.
The survey revealed a fundamental shift in travelling behaviours, where readers “had moved away from traditional two-week holidays in Europe and now think nothing of jumping on a plane to South Africa, even for the weekend.”
People were also more willing to travel further distances because of cheaper prices, cheaper flights and the high value of the Euro, which means travellers are no longer just sticking to Europe.
New Zealand was in fact award the most favourite holiday destination, followed by the Maldives, South Africa, Italy and Australia.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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