The Ministry has published a revised National Tourism Policy for the period 2015-2020, which gives strong and clear directions to the sector, on the basis of which specific strategic plans are formulated.
The Ministry also finalised a film policy which was launched in January 2016. This articulates a vision up to 2020, with the aim of maximising the potential of both Malta’s film servicing industry as well as the promising local film sector. This policy will serve to transform Malta into a unique film destination.
Three fundamental principles guide the National Tourism Policy, namely:
Managing visitor numbers,
Raising the level of quality across the entire tourism value chain,
Reducing seasonality.
These three principles will form the basis of the continued and successful sustainable development of tourism over the forthcoming years.
Issues and challenges include: the risk of economic instability in source markets; political instability in the region particularly due to proximity to North Africa; a heavy dependence on air travel to sustain tourism inflows; the small size of the domestic market; the peripheral nature of the destination in relation to its source markets; and the challenge of maintaining peak volumes at current levels whilst channelling growth into off-peak months.
In response to these challenges, priority objectives include:
Improved airline connectivity,
Continued market diversification to attract new geographic source markets and year-round motivational segments so as to further ease seasonal skews in tourism inflows
The upgrade of the product and service offer to allow for the delivery of a quality experience to all visitors
Optimising the relationship between volume growth and value growth to strengthen economic returns.
The achievement of these objectives requires a national effort since some of the responsibilities sit directly within the Ministry and the Malta Tourism Authority, while others, especially those related to infrastructure and staff training, fall within the greater remit of other Ministries. Air Malta as the national carrier also remains pivotal.
National development policies aim to integrate fully the requirements of sustainable development and they feed into sectoral sustainable development strategies covering different sectors which directly or indirectly influence the harmonious growth of the tourism sector.
Given the small size of its domestic tourism market, Malta’s tourism industry almost exclusively depends on foreign inflows for its sustained wellbeing and profitability, which in turn relies on air transport. The Malta Tourism Authority has recognised the strong relationship between growth of inbound tourism and the number of routes and seat capacity. In response, Malta has embarked on a strategy to increase the number of direct airline routes, which have risen from around 45 in 2006 to over 92 in 2016 (Box 1.16).
Over the years Malta has accumulated a vast body of regulations to govern tourism service providers, including hotels and similar accommodation, catering establishments, travel agents and tourist guides. A major exercise has recently been undertaken with the dual objective of:
Revisiting the extensive regulatory framework with a view to simplify, remove overlaps, and reduce the number of relevant legal notices to a more manageable and reasonable quantity.
Changing the spirit of the law to ensure that the regulatory framework is better equipped to react and adapt to a rapidly changing tourism industry, rather than acting as a deterrent.
Following a period of extensive consultation, the next step involves a Parliamentary Debate to discuss and eventually approve the proposed changes to the Malta Travel and Tourism Services Act (CAP409).
