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Increase might be flat in April – MHRA President
Gerald Fenech
Last week, the National Statistics Office issued buoyant statistics for the tourism sector indicating a year on year increase in the month of March of a considerable 10.8 per cent when compared to March 2006. This continues the positive trend which started in January of this year when the increase was estimated at 2.4 per cent. In February, tourist departures increased further by 6.9 per cent, bringing this first quarter into positive territory for the first time in some years.
A short analysis of the countries from which the increase was mostly prevalent indicates that in January, there was an increased number of tourists coming from the Italian and Scandinavian markets whilst in February, the increase also spread to the British market. In March, the increase continued in the British and Italian market together with an increase in the French market.
All these results clearly indicate that the introduction of low cost carriers is having a considerable effect on our tourism results with a revival at least on the cards.
There are also positive signs coming from the accomodation front with increases registered across the board. Although the total nights spent by tourists decreased by 9 per cent in January, nights spent in hotel accomodation actually increased by 2.8 per cent during the same month. In February, total nights spent in Malta again decreased, this time by 3.4 per cent, but nights spent in private accomodation increased substantially by 9 per cent. In March, nights spent registered an increase for the first time by 1.1 per cent whilst nights spent in collective accomodation were up by 5.6 per cent.
Tourists are also spending more, exploding the myth that some wished to propogate, that low cost passengers are not high spenders. For the three months from January to March, tourist expenditure increased by 3.9, 13.1 and 12.8 per cent, substantial amounts that bring the grand total for the quarter to around Lm 58.3 million.
Commenting on these statistics, Malta Hotels and Restaurants President Josef Formosa Gauci said that although the positive trend can clearly be seen, there is still a lot which needs to be done to increase visitors during the shoulder months which are still quite lean. He said that one also has to consider that we are comparing figures with 2006 which was one of the worst years for tourism in general.
“A lot of the increases we are seeing are undoubtedly due to increased seating capacity on standard carrier flights and obviously the injection provided by the low cost carriers. We are also seeing trends that include lower length of stays and an increase in package holidays where tourists are spending less on accomodation but more in the general economy. We also welcome the new route to Bremen which should bring about a much needed increase from the German market and we hope that the Spanish and Scandinavian low cost routes will also be taken up”.
Formosa Gauci also expressed concern on the situation in Gozo which was not seeing any increase but in fact was in decline when compared to Malta.
In his comments, GRTU Retail and Hospitality Vice President Philip Fenech said that the reality is that over 40 per cent of all outbound traffic from EU markets is based on the low cost carrier and we have to reposition ourselves according to market trends.
“Although we are faced with the problem of excess capacity, the latest results are definitely encouraging notwitstanding the fact that we are comparing figures with last year, which was a very bad year on the whole. Air Malta has to face up to current trends and we cannot afford losing core markets which are under served to protect other markets”, he said when asked about the low cost passenger increase.
Fenech was upbeat on the new routes recently announced by government but added that although all this remains good news, the situation is still far from sustainable.
“The reality is that we still have a serious problem regarding capacity and this is set to increase with all the apartment blocks set to be constructed within the next few years and which are clearly aimed at foreign buyers. We also have to try and put a stop to this trend of demolishing hotels on prime sites to turn them into apartments as we could end up having an increase in tourists without the beds for them. We have to face up to the structural problem before we destroy places which will be lost forever to the industry”. |
