Tourism - Let`s get Serious

The Malta Independent on Sunday 

Tourism is and will remain a vital part of our economy. It has the potential for sustainable and healthy growth. It is therefore important that the industry is given due attention and gets lifted from political bickering which plagues most aspects of Maltese life.

Recent events indicate that we are not doing so. MHRA held a press conference to present its findings from a survey amongst its members for the first quarter of 2003 which made rather poor reading. The Minister for Tourism makes short shrift of the MHRA survey and was reported as follows in the press:

“The Minister refused to be taken aback by the survey which revealed among other things that the hotel industry had reported a gross operating loss of 21 per cent compared with a loss of 13 per cent during the same period last year.

Pointing out that he would always avoid pessimistic attitudes, the minister stressed that all tourism players were working hand in hand to reverse the downward trend - and there were already encouraging signs.”

It might be a virtue to maintain a positive attitude in the face of all adversity. But on the other hand it is irresponsible to avoid facts and just hope that positive talk will on its own deliver solutions.

I would probably have let the matter pass as just another of so many instances where we refuse to face reality and refuse to organise a broadly supported action programme to deliver a sustainable solution so that we can see tourism where it belongs – as the primary growth generator of the Maltese economy.

But coming in the days when it was announced that Louis Grech is being unceremoniously relieved from his chairmanship of Air Malta I could not let my reflections go unwritten.

Malta does not make many like Louis Grech. He has led Air Malta for the last seven years in the most admirable way keeping it operationally profitable in the face of all adversity. He did his damn hardest to keep to company afloat when strategic decisions taken by his predecessors (purchase of the RJ’s and investment in Azzurra Air) drifted the company away from its raison d’etre and started driving holes in its financial structure.

Air Malta is an integral part of our tourism. Following the unfortunate experience of the RJ’s and Azzurra Air, everyone seems to have accepted the obvious, that Air Malta exists to promote Malta tourism and its performance and that of Maltese tourism industry are inter-dependant.

It is therefore important that Air Malta is guided with stability and professionalism and not with political affiliation or nepotism. If it was time for a change at the top of Air Malta, and one could accept that after seven years at the helm there could be room for change to induce new styles, fresh ideas and account for good corporate governance which may be enhanced through occasional changes of responsibilities, then change should be done with the dignity and honour which an outgoing chairman as Louis Grech deserves.

He should certainly not hear rumours about it in the press and much less be officially informed just 4 days before it takes effect. Such crude approach will inevitably lead objective observers to the logical conclusion that such biased treatment is reserved for chairpersons who were initially appointed by a Labour government.

My comments do not in any way reflect negatively on the ability of the new Chairman, my friend Lawrence Zammit, to build on Louis Grech’s good work and take Air Malta to higher grounds. Lawrence has already shown his entrepreneurial leadership skills and one should be quite confident that Air Malta will continue to be well served through his chairmanship.

The point is that there is no shortage of other places where Lawrence Zammit’s skills were needed, whilst Air Malta was well served by Louis Grech. If when all is said and done the government or minister responsible still considered it proper to terminate Louis Grech chairmanship, than at least this should have been done with dignity.

The larger view is that tourism can only deliver the growth we expect and need, only if we pool all talent to transform the industry to one where we can compete effectively on our unique competences rather than continue to compete in terms of price against mass market locations. The message should be “come to Malta for three or four days as what you can see in Malta in three or four days you will not see anywhere else”. This is a strategy which builds on the uniqueness of our small size and turns a threat into an opportunity, a disadvantage into an advantage.

If we manage to so transform our tourism, Air Malta would practically double its workload on the basis of existing bed-stock and the spend per tourist night will rise exponentially as we get tourists who spend Lm200 in three days rather than in two weeks.

To do so we need to transform our product from predominantly tour operator driven to a collection of niche competences in conference and incentive, multi point destinations and fly and cruise holidays. This is easier said than done and to succeed we need Karmenu and Louis as much as we need Lawrence and Francis. When are we going to start?