Gerald Fenech
Although the English Language School industry appears to be quite resilient to external shocks, it would appear that the recovery in tourist numbers will only start becoming effective in the latter two quarters of the year, Malta Today can confirm.
FELTOM President Alex Fenech explained that numbers were recovering somewhat and were expected to be better than last year, but he added that “we are still very far away from 2007 and 2008 levels”.
“On the whole we are expecting a much better year than 2009, which was pretty bad although the situation is still quite volatile. The industry is also seeing the phenomenon of last minute bookings which makes it that bit more difficult to actually predict what the numbers will be but they are looking better than last year”.
Malta is being faced with an additional disadvantage since the introduction of the Euro with a weak Sterling which puts further pressure on prices.
“The weakness of Sterling against the Euro is affecting the junior market as parents who opt to send their children abroad for schooling will cut back on this expense if they suffer a decrease in their disposable income. On the other hand we have seen the number of adult students rising this year and the market looks quite good in that respect”.
Fenech said that this cautiously optimistic scenario could be singularly affected if a recurrence of the volcanic ash cloud were to occur during the peak summer season which is seen as crucial for the industry.
“We obviously depend on airline traffic for the bulk of incoming arrivals and if such a situation were to occur in summer it would spell disaster for the industry and seriously threaten our recovery”, Fenech added
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