The island of Malta counts tourism as an important part of her economy. This has magnified the concern associated with the decline in tourism in the last few years. Attributed mostly to the economy, the island experienced a loss of 45,000 tourists in 2007 from their main United Kingdom market.
Malta is fairly low key and more than suitable for family holidays. The tourist industry would like nothing more than to broaden its appeal to draw in more younger 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 upmarket hotels in Malta.
Not only are tourists either staying home or choosing different holiday venues, but those who do visit Malta are opting for accommodation other than the usual hotels in Malta. Everyone in the tourist industry knows that the key to a robust tourist trade lies in the repeat visitors. Lately, however, Malta has become more of a on time 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 cut rate airlines have applied for routes to Malta, the government has been reluctant to grant them. The concern has been that the competition would not be beneficial to the state-sanctioned airline, Air Malta. Much to the relief of the hoteliers, airlines such as Ryanair were awarded landing rights in late 2006.
The success of the budget airlines that offer Malta flights 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 holiday 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 according to some people who write a Malta blog 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 UK 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, Ryanair was reporting 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, tourist industry experts in Malta are also eyeing 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 berths for cruise ships.
Getting cruise line passengers onto the island will not solve the struggling hotels in Malta 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 the UK 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 visitors, but these days any good news is welcome for the Malta holidays industry.
