Malta Tourism Adapts To A New Market

Firmly established in Europe as a vacation destination, Malta's economy is pretty reliant on tourism and it forms a large part of her GDP, disproportionate to many European countries, but similar to many Mediterranean islands.

But with the European economies taking a hit in the last year the island has seen quite a drop in visitor numbers, especially from her largest market - the UK.

Malta's Mediterranean climate of dry hot summers tempered by sea breezes and mild winters has been an attractive drawing card for visitors from the UK. It offers the usual water associated activities like sailing, snorkeling, sun bathing and swimming along with hotels ranging from four star to tourist level. Restaurants abound on the island and the cuisines offered range from from Mediterranean to Japanese. Shopping, golfing and some spectacular sightseeing round up the activities available for holidaymakers.

Malta is fairly low key and more than suitable for family trips. The tourist industry would like nothing more than to broaden its appeal to draw in more young tourists as well. Developers have been planning on new hotels and upgraded activities. The deterrent has been the economy. With fewer tourists hotels have found themselves experiencing occupancy shortfalls, particularly the upscale establishments.

Not only are holidaymakers staying home or choosing different vacation areas, but those who do visit Malta are opting for accommodation other than the usual tourist hotels. Everyone in the tourist industry knows that the key to a robust tourist trade lies in repeat visitors. Lately, however, Malta has become more of a once and that's it destination.

Transportation to and from the island has been one factor that many industry experts have been struggling with for the past few years. Although a number of low cost airlines now have routes to Malta, the government seemed reluctant to grant them. The concern had been that the competition would not be beneficial to the existing national airline.

Much to the relief of the hoteliers, low cost airlines now bring in tourists not just from the UK but other European countries as well.

The success of the bare bones airlines that offer transportation at rock bottom prices is, at the same time, a double edged sword. As the cheaper airlines gain landing rights from more and more countries and cities, people who may have been drawn to the less expensive vacation destinations may start choosing other venues. And the domestic Malta tourist trade would have the same opportunity to go abroad for their holidays.

Malta's tourist industry must persuade the government that it has to upgrade its infrastructure and improve the environment for tourists. The hope is that Malta will win back more of its lost British tourists and that visitors will stop viewing Malta as a one-off trip. So far the cheaper airlines seem to be doing their part. Though tourism is still off due to the state of the economy, one airline reported that immediately after winning landing rights, it was taking a reservation for transportation to Malta at a rate of one every minute.

In addition to the cultivation of cheaper airlines flying to Malta airport holiday experts are also eyeing up the cruise ship market. Malta-based cruise ships could be a boon to some of the tourism problems. In addition the government is doing its best to refit docks and build new births for cruise ships. The government also wants to lay a buoy so that cruise ships can anchor outside of the harbours.

Getting cruise line passengers onto the island will not solve the hotel problem, but the influx of customers spending money shopping, dining and sightseeing will definitely help to get things back on track. If enough tourist euros can be generated, the government and private enterprises will be able to initiate the long overdue improvements necessary to draw more tourists to Malta.

It's likely that tourism will continue to experience more downs than ups until the general economy begins to rebound. There are some good signs for Malta's tourism industry. While visitors from Great Britain continue to decline, there is an increase in holidaymakers from other countries. Visitors from Germany, France, Italy and Spain, among other European countries, have increased slightly in the past few years. The numbers have not yet offset the drop in British tourists, but given time Malta might be less reliant on the UK for her vacation trade.

Information for the island of Malta is on-line at yourmalta.com

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