We need a government that walks the talk in tourism policy and strategy today

Tourism Policy and Strategy has been, for the last 10 years, a way in which the government has hoodwinked the community, the business community and its own authorities into believing that these islands are a destination of excellence heading towards a quality tourism country.

On the contrary, these are just political jargon that create a smoke screen for the bad governance and the illegal manner in which this governance is carried out. Today’s article shows how we have been led to believe that sustainable tourism and quality tourism are just empty words that have never been applied at all over the past decade. How can we apply quality and sustainability here when building and construction is rampant? How can we apply these two factors when human resources are simply filling jobs not careers? How can we apply quality and sustainability when there is no national interest or civic responsibilitry conducted by government and its cohorts? Unless we have a government that walks the talk (I believe this administration has failed to do so), when it comes to implementing tourism policy and strategy, then tourism will remain the stingy, low-class industry we have come to experience over the past 10 years. I will offer some solutions, as always, to this serious situation.

In my last article, I wrote about the one subject tourism businesses and employees are talking about: “What will happen after March 2024, almost 50 years after the national airline came into being? Quo Vadis Malta Air or Air Malta?” My questions run deeper and I hope to find some answers in the coming months as we approach the demise of that airline next year. In whose interest is this change in the national airline being done? Certainly it does not seem obvious that this is in the national interest. Why was this airline allowed to decline over the last decade?

I remember the birth of the national airline; with just three or four old Boeings it managed to become a symbol of Malta, it was seen as our own way of welcoming visitors to the islands; it also indicated that an island of just 400,000 people, at the time, could also be proud of their own emblem on the tail of a plane! I really believe that the error was made when we started to consider this airline as simply a cash cow for milking rather than an asset in the national interest. But, as usual, I will not dwell on the negative side of this demise but I will give six steps we could have taken (and perhaps still could do) to let the airline come out of its sad state:

The national airline represents an important element in the travel and tourism sector to and from these islands – primarily, because it represents more profits in the local coffers and less economic leakage. We must maintain this factor and ensure it remains in the national coffers and not in personal bank accounts – locally or otherwise.

The situation of this airline should be the main theme for a working group consisting of key stakeholders, including the business community, the local community and local authorities. This must be supplemented by a continuous and consistent dialogue with the public through open consultation and listening – none of this macabre cloak and dagger nonsense with which decisions were taken at the Ministry for Finance and the OPM to close the existing airline.

The employees and their family need to be part of any decision about Air Malta, even being offered a profit-sharing and shareholding position. The employees must feel the ownership of this company. We should have learnt from companies like BHS and Debenhams that were dissolved to the detriment of the employees and their families.

The strategy and marketing plan for Air Malta must be prepared by the integrated working group so that we can all contribute to the plan through continuous and consistent public consultations to reflect the changes in travel experiences and demands. If there is such a strategy and marketing plan (and I have very strong reason to doubt this) then it must be published now, well before January 2024.

Under the FOI regulations we all have a right to see any correspondence leading up to the decision to close the airline next month – and do NOT give me all that nonsense of commercial integrity, we are talking about a PUBLIC company.

Finally, if it is found that it was mismanagement and incompetence (deliberate or not) that led to this situation for the national airline then those responsible need to pay financially for any losses as well as pay with their instant dismissal.

This week I will speak about another serious issue in tourism – the successful application of tourism policies and sustainability that we have been speaking of for the past 30 years but have forgotten in the last decade. This is another result of a government and authorities that lack the national interest and civic responsibility to address these factors – we are treating tourism as an industry without looking at the very soul of this activity – the socio-cultural aspect, the quest for adventure, for knowledge to understand cultures, communities, history and heritage. The measurement for tourism depends entirely on the quantitative statistics of arrivals, bed nights and global revenue instead of the type of visitor, the needs and experiences of that visitor and the hospitality and service we must offer in a professional and not an amateur or badmannered way.

We must consider our threats and weaknesses in this respect, today, if these islands are to be recognised by visitors as a place for good value in experiences and budgets. The alternative would be that these islands will soon become a sad and decrepit concrete jungle run by sinister and criminal minds that look to their own gain than that of the country. Policies and strategies are there to show all stakeholders the way forward, they must be designed through constant and continuous consultation not the result of some ghost writer in some dingy government department or authority. Here now are my six suggestions for applying successful policies and strategies for a government that intends to walk the talk in tourism:

Policies and strategies need to be designed by a working group of experts who work consistently and constantly using two simple methods – the integrated approach to planning and the tourism planning triangle and the Ten CTS (Commitment, Trust and Synergy) Process for Implementation. These methods include continuous participation by the three key stakeholders – the local authorities, the local community and the local business community. YOU are a key factor in the success of such policies and strategies.

Implementation can only be successful when the stakeholder takes ownership and understands his/her role in the strategy and policy. Policies and strategies for tourism are public documents and not private property for governments and authorities.

The policies and strategies must be monitored through regular meetings with the stakeholder, listening to ideas, difficulties and methods and making sure to implement these. Monitoring is not the remit of some group of government lackies that formulate a list of excuses or puerile explanations why this or that policy or strategy has not been implemented.

There needs to be regular updates for the success of tourism policies that describe the management as well as the qualitative factors that have achieved this success. Quantitative results such as tourism numbers are not representative of this success.

The stakeholders must organise regular workshops and fora to draw up serious reports – the activities carried out by NGOs that just represent employers and businesses is certainly not enough since these are skewed towards the interest of that small community.

Finally, these steps must be carried out by a government that is set to rely on action (walking the talk) not some politician or business person whose only interest is egocentric and personal.

By following these six stages, we can ensure that these islands are managed professionally, sustainably and with the idea of developing a quality activity that attracts the visitor who wants to be here. Travel and tourism to these islands today is about quantitative gains for the greedy and uncouth. We need to put professionalism and hospitality back in the equation.

Still more facts in this short article that I hope will continue to encourage more people to write in and assist in the compilation of the Guidelines to Stewardship. Thank you to all those who have already shown their support from as far as the UK, Switzerland and Germany (incidentally three of our key source markets). If we persist in ignoring these facts then, as I have said many times, tourism here will be an activity that may just attract sordid and nasty characters instead of the visitor who wants to be here – let us keep persisting.

This year I will be completing the Guidelines for Stewardships with the help of a number of individuals and NGOs that have already approached me and I hope to present this to you, as the community, to our politicians and to our authorities. We may, yet, be able to save these islands from total oblivion as a sustainable and quality tourist destination. Will YOU join me?

Dr Julian Zarb is a researcher, local tourism planning consultant and an academic at the University of Malta. He has also been appointed as an expert for the High Streets Task Force in the UK. His main area of research is community-based tourism and local tourism planning using the integrated approach.