New Visitor Target for Malta

Malta's tourism authority set target for the holiday industry and with very little doubt they announced that around million and a half visitors a year to the island could be achieved in three years. The target set by the Malta Tourist Authority for the number of tourists visiting Malta in the past has always failed to meet, but atleast this time the number is expected remain same if not to increase.

In order to enhance tourism in Malta, the Tourist Authority is planning to promote the neighboring island of Gozo as a vacation destination and increase convenience to Malta. One autonomous Malta's travel guide commented on the new targets set by the tourist authority by saying that their plans are not new or original, which would boost tourism.

Malta Tourist Authority is good at constructing statistics, outstanding at identify problems and the future requirements, but always fail to meet the targets they set; as such they are identical to a planning office in the old Soviet bureaucracy. Private sectors and not the Public sectors are more concerned to increase the number of tourist in Malta, as their interests are directly proportional to their plans. Tourist authority bureaucrats will be drawing their salaries even if the targets are not met.

Opinion of a travel guide
According to the travel guide the poor Malta tourist figures is due to the delay in the introduction of low cost airlines to Malta. It will be rare chances that the tourists visiting Malta in 2006 will be same as 2005 as Malta was incapable in starting low cost airlines from UK all through the important summer season.

Air Malta, the official airline, reported a decline of over 2% in the number of passengers it carried in the year March 2005 to 2006. The hoteliers and others involved in Malta's tourist trade are optimistic about the growth in the numbers of tourists in the island and believe that atleast one of the low cost airlines will start from UK and other parts of Europe in the near term.

The travel guide believes that the decrease in revenue in Malta was due to no low cost flights to Malta. He also believes that Malta should start airlines to new places in Europe and Spain. Again according to him although economical flights to Malta is important, but in order to sustain tourism the island should be able to attracts new visitors to have a good business year over year. Tourism sector is the main source of employment in Malta, and presently unemployment rate is over 8%, so any further fall in tourists will hurt the economy of the island in the long term.

hotelsonmalta.com

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New Visitor Target for Malta