When other countries which are more developed than us – and are even so industrialised as to form part of G8 – embarked on an anti-crisis plan in an attempt to save their country from this international economic crisis, in Malta there is no crisis.
If these countries acknowledge that there is a problem, in Malta we are made to believe that since it is a crisis coming from outside our shores, we can treat it as if it is something outside our scope and beyond our control. One aspect of this crisis, which is hitting us hard, is definitely tourism. This is not the first time that we are experiencing this crisis. When Zammit Dimech was Minister for Tourism, we blamed it on him as there was no international crisis to hold accountable, and now that we all expected the young, energetic, intelligent and witty Dr De Marco to bring a change for the better in the industry. I am afraid to say that we have seen nothing yet of what Dr De Marco is capable of doing.
All we have seen so far are press releases and contributions from Dr De Marco and the MTA reminding us of the millions they are spending in advertising. But we have enough of millions being spent here and there, and the time is now to account for those millions. In other words, we now expect to see a good return for those millions spent. Nowadays it is no longer the issue of a miserly government, but of a government which means well, but most of the time does not spend money wisely.
You do not have to be a tourism guru to say that it is useless promoting your home abroad when your home is in a shambles – I have always been and still am the one to say that it is better for us to spend less on advertising and utilise the money to put our house in order.
Nowadays the internet tells the customer the best value-for-money holidays, the most environmentally friendly places and it is no longer sun and sea only. People know that we are a country with one blue flag beach, whereas countries which are supposed to be less developed than us have more, and tourists do take notice of that.
In Malta the Malta Tourism Authority does not have the brains to deal with this situation, and it has not yet come up with a new marketing strategy in these times of financial crisis. We are still doing advertising the old way!
Other countries know that statistics show that the international crisis has not damaged or dampened religious tourism, and so they direct their advertising on this sector of tourism. Italy, obviously, focused on religious tourism and Israel did so too when – despite the bombs and strife – it managed to keep attracting visitors.
Using the slogan, “Don’t let your soul wait any longer, come visit Israel” the country successfully addressed a well-segmented target audience that is less vulnerable to crises situations.
In Malta we had the “Sena Pawlina” – did the MTA do anything to exploit this commemoration? I will leave you to answer this question.
Foreign tourism experts tell us that there are four tourism recovery strategies that can assist tourism professionals in developing and marketing better tourism products of these turbulent times. These were predicted in 2008 by Eran Ketter, a marketing specialist, in his book “Media Strategies for Marketing Place in Crisis: Improving the Image of Cities, Countries and Tourist Destinations”.
First is the religious tourism that I just mentioned; second is domestic tourism; third is value tourism; and fourth, volunteer tourism.
So far I can safely say that MTA is only relying on domestic tourism and it is thanks to the Maltese and Gozitans that many Maltese and Gozitan hoteliers and restaurants are keeping afloat. Imagine it is now cheaper staying at the Hilton than at Kempinski in Gozo!
Other countries concentrate a lot on the value of tourism services and products and value is also used as part of a marketing campaign. Following this method, at the beginning of 2009 the Tourism Authority of Thailand launched a global campaign titled “Amazing Thailand, Amazing Value.”
By emphasizing the country’s worthwhile proposition, Thailand can now better address travelers who still like to go on vacation but to a less costly destination. A recent survey by CNN International demonstrates the campaign effectiveness, titling Thailand as the best value destination in Asia-Pacific. (We all remember the flop in promoting Malta on CNN).
Another segment that is less affected by the international financial crisis is volunteer tourism “i-to-i”, a leading international firm in the field of volunteer tourism, had recently reported a year-on-year revenue increase of 28% according to its sales figures for March 2009.
Other studies show that the global crisis is changing the travel trends in 2009. In a study conducted by the research and development branch of the Tourism Journalists Association (TUYED) and published in December of last year, predicted that this crisis is projected to persist till 2010 and is expected to change the tourism trends in 2009 bringing an increase in domestic tourism and travel to nearby countries. The reports makes the same conclusions as Ketter in that it states that the research showed that the basic tourism trends for 2009 are domestic tourism, travel to nearby countries and faith tourism.
Other traveling trends on TUYED’s list includes increases in the number of local tourism organizations and interest in cultural and historical tours, greater importance of technology through which travelers are able to find the most economic traveling options, more camping tourism, accommodation in environment-friendly hotels, trips in nature and visiting relatives.
“The research shows that Turkey, as well as Jordan, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Suria, Canada, Egypt, New Zealand and some Far East countries, will be advantageous in terms of tourism, Koftegoglu, the chairman of TUYED said.
“It also shows that the ongoing global crisis will be good for Turkey since it is close to Europe.”
Turkey has an advantage in Mediterranean tourism: “For instance, in a meeting held in Antalya, Thomas Cook CEO Manny Fontenia –Novoa said Turkey has value and it is a bastion for their company. One of the biggest tourism companies of Europe TUI shares this opinion. TUI managers highlight Turkey’s importance in the Mediterranean region in terms of tourism”.
Now that the MTA has this information on a silver platter, all it can do to roll up its sleeves, stop living in a glass house and start working seriously.
Up to now we have only seen them posing for photographs, giving us nonsense in their interviews and showing us no strategy at all on how to approach the crisis, whilst continuing to pontificate about the millions of euros it is spending in advertising.
And just in case the MTA does not know, I know of a four-star hotel which closed down the kitchen, and is engaging a catering contractor for the meals in the hotel. This is the faith that our hoteliers have in this industry, which used to be one of the pillars of our economy, generating one third of our income.
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One aspect of this crisis, which is hitting us hard, is definitely tourism. This is not the first time that we are experiencing this crisis. When Zammit Dimech was Minister for Tourism, we blamed it on him as there was no international crisis to hold accountable, and now that we all expected the young, energetic, intelligent and witty Dr De Marco to bring a change for the better in the industry. I am afraid to say that we have seen nothing yet of what Dr De Marco is capable of doing.
