Letters | Wednesday, 29 October 2008

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Taking stock of ‘product Malta’

With Ryanair’s pull-out from Valencia, lessons on the eventual consequences of such a scenario should be taken into consideration by all tourism stakeholders and the government.
How long until the first major crisis could see these airlines flying out of Malta, never to return back?
I see the environment as being an important ingredient in the development of our tourism product. For years it has been severely neglected, but today, we know that five-star hotels and the proliferation of entertainment places is just not enough. We have to offer something to tourists which they may not necessarily find at home.
I could mention important attributes such as the sea; or the fantastic weather we have not just in summer but even in the run-up to the Christmas season, where warm climes can still be felt; or what about our affable relationship with tourists; and the safety of the Maltese islands?
At the end of the day, it’s the way the Maltese live and the way they take care of their environment and their urban cores that will give tourists an authentic, and real Maltese experience. Tourists want to have the freedom and ease of exploring a small island: by being free to walk in the countryside without being harassed by hunters; by finding cycling lanes in the roads; by having an efficient and punctual public transport service that runs into the early hours; by not being fleeced by taxi drivers; having swift connections from the airport and back. All of these basic ingredients for a decent holiday happen to be missing in Malta.
And don’t we, as Maltese citizens, find such basic amenities to be lacking in our case as well? Because when tourists come to Malta they are not living in some tourist bubble – they are actually experiencing much of the same we experience on a daily basis.
It is heartening to see government already acting on many of the issues mentioned above, such as the reform in public transport. But it is also good for the Malta Tourism Authority to keep in mind that product Malta is not only about tourists – it is also about the Maltese citizens as well.
Maybe it should not just be marketing gurus to influence policy-making inside the MTA. It is time to have more thinkers, and social scientists, taking a more in-depth look at tourism, its effects on society, and how our society views tourists in Malta, to gain a better insight at so called ‘product Malta’.

Antoinette Micallef
Mellieha

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