Malta to attract Gulf tourists

Malta, one of the best kept tourism secrets of the Mediter-ranean region, is opening up to lure tourists from the Arabian Gulf countries who are eyeing new destinations on this side of the Atlantic.

The Malta Tourism Authority has drawn up a strategic plan to restructure the tourism industry slowly and this includes promoting itself in the Arabian Gulf.

"The UAE, particularly Dubai, will be a new opening for Malta Tourism. There may not be enough business to start with but it is an outlet we are considering," Dr. Michael Reflo, the Maltese Minister for Tourism, told Gulf News.

"The Gulf countries are enticing. We need to do something to promote tourism there but we have financial limitations," he added.

The advantage Malta enjoys is the direct flights by Emirates from Dubai to Malta.

Next year, Emirates will be starting flights to Shanghai in China and this move is expected to boost tourism in Malta.

"Malta is one of two European countries given destination approval status by the Chinese authorities for their citizens to travel to. So we expect not only students who come here to study English but tourists as well," Reflo said.

Germany is the other country that enjoys such a status from China.

"So far we have concentrated on our core markets but we will have to focus on new markets."

The aftermath of September 11 had a negative impact on Malta's tourism industry.

"The impact was felt up to the second quarter of this year. But in October, 2002, the industry has actually recovered with an increase in tourist inflow from most of our major markets such as UK, Germany, France and Italy," the minister said.

"We expect strong inflow in December and first quarter 2003 but the growth will reflect in volume terms," he added, noting that they had no revenue statistics.

The losses are put at 7-8 million Maltese lira (one lira equals $2.20) up to June, 2002, since September 11, 2001.

However, Malta has recovered well before other tourist havens in the region such as Cyprus, Greece and Tunisia, he said. "Our marketing and promotions have helped considerably as we targeted consumers rather than operators."

In the 15 years from 1987 to 1992, tourist arrivals in Malta spiralled to one million from 600,000, and from 1992 to 2002 it increased to 1.1 million. Almost 95 per cent of tourists come by air and the growth rate runs parallel to the air seat capacity.

"With Malta joining the European Union (EU), it would automatically benefit since Air Malta can carry passengers from any EU destination rather than restrictive ones now."

Revenues from tourism are some 300 million lira and tourism accounts for 25 per cent of GDP.