GTA celebrates World Tourism Day
World Tourism Day is celebrated annually by the UNWTO on 27 September. Along the years the Gozo Tourism Association (GTA) took several initiatives to observe this day. To mark this year’s World Tourism Day, the GTA held a half day conference entitled Business to button.
The focus of this event was the enhancement and adaptability of the Gozitan tourism operators in the versatile and constantly evolving touristic sector. During this event the GTA launched another section on its website: www.islandofgozo.org fully dedicated to its members, as well as to the other stakeholders in tourism. This part of the website was presented to the participants by GTA council member Konrad
Scicluna who was behind the design and compiling of this section. This compendium of touristic information at a touch of a button is intended to assist and facilitate Gozitan tourism operators in their marketing and promotional efforts, as well as their respective daily operations.
Those present for this event were also given a wealth of information on the habits, trends and profile of the foreign tourists who visit Gozo zooming on the 2019-2022 period. This detailed presentation was delivered by Leslie Vella, chief officer Strategic Development and deputy CEO of the Malta Tourism Authority. In his presentation Vella gave an insight through various statistics on the behaviour of the visitors to Gozo as well as to their motivations and expectations.
The morning event was also addressed by Professor Geoffrey Lipman, president of SUNx Malta and past assistant secretary general of UNWTO. During his address Professor Lipman urged the tourism stakeholders present to give attention to climate-friendly tourism, while reminding those present that tourism cannot be taken for granted, especially with the global climate change that is being experienced.
At the end of the conference, participants were addressed by the Minister for Gozo Clint Camilleri. In this concluding speech Minister Camilleri highlighted the importance of the touristic sector to the Gozitan economy as well as the touristic vision for Gozo as spelled out in the recently launched strategy by the GRDA. Minister Camilleri also underlined the several projects that are presently in hand in
Gozo to continue upgrading the Gozitan touristic offer, while thanking all those present for their efforts and endevours in Gozitan tourism.
This conference was also addressed by the GTA chairman, Paul Scicluna who in his welcoming speech stressed the need for the Gozitan operators to adopt and upgrade the quality of their services, while advising participants that in order to maintain and sustain tourism growth on Gozo, operators need to improve their capabilities to be more competitive.