Looking for the Holy Grail of Asian tourism

Around the world, airlines, hotels and luxury businesses are bracing for the return of tens of millions of tourists and their hundreds of billions of euros – though experts suggested the revival could take months to fully gather pace.

China had strictly limited outbound travel in an effort to prevent its residents from returning with the virus. The pandemic took a heavy toll on outbound tourism, which contributed roughly to 4.5% to Hong Kong’s economy in 2018, with a majority of 65 million coming from mainland China.

In 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, 155 million Chinese people travelled abroad and experts project a solid recovery in the first quarter of 2023 and mass return of tourism in the second. The lifting of quarantine rules effectively opens the door for many Chinese to go abroad for the first time since borders were slammed shut three years ago.

Concerns about travellers from China were understandable, given the scale of the Covid outbreak, the likelihood of Chinese passengers causing a spike in infections when visiting is minimal. There is a lot of pentup demand from the Chinese to travel but the problem is the prowess by tourist ministries to accommodate them by issuing visas and creating extra flight connectivity. Can Malta stand to gain? It is one of the sunniest European destinations with a good climate all year round, making it an ideal location for a winter getaway.

An island steeped in history; Malta is an ideal short-haul destination claims the Malta Hotel Restaurants Association (MHRA). It notes that countries, which have not been as bold as Malta in subsidizing energy costs, are finding that a lot of small- and medium-sized enterprises are struggling to stay afloat.

MHRA believes that this budgetary measure was necessary to ensure the continued good health of the tourism and hospitality sector. With reference to the product, MHRA notes that once again reference is being made to the restructuring of the Tourism Zones Foundation for more effective embellishment and for the regeneration of tourism designated areas across Malta and Gozo. A number one urgent task is how to ensure a better upkeep and cleanliness level of these zones.

So far, we are still nailed to a colonial cross how to run the sector. Unequivocally, a tried and tested safe policy of attracting as many low-spending tourists as possible. Five-star hotels habitually scrape about 18% all year-round occupancy. No studies have ever surfaced over the years to discover the true gross value added (GVA) that the sector contributes to the economy after deducting infrastructural costs, food imports, environmental damage and various camouflaged State subsidies. Looking back to its origin in the early 1960s, a nascent tourist sector was warmly welcomed by politicians as a pivotal means how to balance annual budgets and create lucrative jobs for hundreds of Illuminati with AirMalta.

As recently advised by the rating agency DBRS, it reminds us how tourism post-pandemic can be a rather volatile industry. Now that the two years of pandemic shutdowns are over, the finance minister wants to catch up on lost revenue. A muchvaulted Holy Grail is the neverending ambition to attract Asian traffic.

A lot depends on improving connectivity. The Shift News reminds us that the government had registered Malta MedAir (see picture) – an airline set up by former minister Konrad Mizzi in 2018 in partnership with Ryanair – to form a completely new entity. As common with other tourist resorts, to help finance the embellishment of beaches and other public amenities, a nominal tax per tourist is being levied on arrivals. So far this year, we attracted 2.2 million visitors closely matching the record 2.8 million reached in 2019.

The prospects for this year look good and provided Europe avoids the pangs of a recession, there is a feeling of so-called revenge tourism with millions of travellers still having unspent cash in the drawer, saved during two years of restrictions. Quoting, again The Shift News it is reliably informed that a backup plan has been hatched on replacing the national airline with a properly funded national airline.

The Finance minister refused to rule out the possibility that Air Malta could be replaced by another flag carrier, while, with a smile, insisted that the airline's restructuring programme is on track. The airline is hiving off baggage and ground-handling services and dropping unprofitable routes. Rumour mills have it that some employees will be transferred to the civil service at same pay while others would hit the jackpot, landing generous severance pay – comprehensively costing almost €200m.

Three years ago, ex-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat (a visionary, see picture) said at a political activity that Malta will attract three million tourists. In fact, the total figures were close to 2.8 million in 2019 excluding cruise-liner visitors. Muscat was enthusiastic about future prospects, his genie in the bottle prophesising that soon we should start attracting top dollar guests who spend €5,000 a night. His government encouraged developers to build. Was he anticipating millionaire Asian visitors to flood Europe this year? Notice the starting gun is about to be fired on the anticipation of building pristine hotel towers licensed to DB and six towers championed by Corinthia.

A reality check reveals how last year we attracted a lower quality visitor booking competitively priced AirBnb accommodation. Such business is benefiting house owners and creating a trickle-down effect. Is this a bad sign? Seasoned operators noted how with the advent of low-cost airlines these are traditionally linked to private accommodation. Some argue that AirBnB facilities are a democratic way on how to share returns from tourism as this means generating cash to household owners who in their hundreds are thus participating in the profits of a proverbial milking cow. It is almost akin to a social service. It helps to buttress inflated domestic costs, pay the rent and other family expenses.

Finally, one waits with bated breath, how soon Joseph Muscat's prophecy can materialise – welcoming gate crashing rich Asian travellers.

“The Finance minister refused to rule out the possibility that Air Malta could be replaced by another flag carrier, while, with a smile, insisted that the airline's restructuring programme is on track”