Why should visitors come to Malta and Gozo?

This is a question I have come across from many people I talk to. What real USP do we have as an island for visitors?

For the past 50 years we thought these islands were the centre of the Mediterranean when it came to promoting a sun and sea destination – indeed we believed that these islands had a monopoly on this natural phenomenon until we were shocked to find out that other countries in North Africa and the southern Mediterranean also have vast swathes of sandy beaches and blue sea. But then we persisted by trying to urge visitors to come here by focusing on price and availability (despite our strategy in the 1980s to develop the quality tourism destination, we still encouraged the “spaghetti and chips” brigade, the tourist who happened to be here because of price and availability not because of any cultural or quality aspect). Today we are looking for “mercenary tourists”, paying the potential tourist to come to Malta and Gozo. And what can these visitors really enjoy and experience here?

Look around you, we have a building and construction industry that is completely and utterly out of hand (verging on the illegal and the absurd in many places!); we have over 120 projects that are promoted through Infrastructure Malta, many of which are useless and shortterm (just look at the so-called footbridges in Marsa that are out of place, gargantuan and hideous to look at). So is this what the visitor can expect from these islands? A building site, an island that has lost its natural and built landscape? An island that is based on the tourism industry not the socio-cultural activity of tourism? I sometimes wonder whether we are really serious about tourism or whether we are more interested in the shortterm gains. Hospitality and service as qualities in our hotels, restaurants and service units seem to be totally irrelevant. So the question again: Why should visitors come to the Maltese Islands for a holiday or for any other reason? Think about this and let me have your replies here in the online blog related to this article or as an email. Meanwhile, I will spur you on by pointing towards some of the potential reasons why visitors should visit the islands. 1.There is no sign of the really mass markets one finds in places like Spain and Tunisia: the islands, because of their size, can offer a more personal destination.

2.We still have towns and villages and sites that are different to the grey and abstract cities one finds abroad.

3. The very idea of visiting an island can give one the perception they are escaping from the dreary home front.

4.There are still a few people who believe in hospitality and service as a quality.

But before we can work on these very basic USPs for the islands we need to think of a more integrated and long-term strategy to develop sustainability and responsibility that can improve the quality for the visitor and host community. Unfortunately, we have a long way to go and before we all understand the principles of civic tourism we cannot begin to think of a quality destination until we change this aggressive and sometimes unorthodox attitude between each other and visitors; we will continue to push visitors away from our shores (save those visitors that other destinations want to get rid of).

This week my recommendation for a better visitor experience includes the management of Mdina, the old walled town that once was the main city of the islands.

Dr Julian Zarb is a researcher, local tourism planning consultant

and a visiting senior lecturer at the University of Malta. He has also been appointed as an expert for the High Streets Task Force in