Hon. Francis Zammit Dimech, Minister for Tourism and Culture "Malta was and still remains a good competitor in the sphere of Tourism."

Conference: Malta, Are we Competitive as a Tourist Destination?

On Monday 16th April a Conference was organized by the newly established Tourism Studies Association (TSA) in collaboration with the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA). TSA is an Association which was formed last December 2006 as a representation of all students studying Tourism Studies at the University of Malta. The Board is made up of students from all 4 years of the BA Tourism Studies course.

The main issue which was discussed at the conference was, Malta: Are We Competitive as a Tourist Destination? After a brief introduction to the conference by TSA President James L. Baldacchino, Hon. Francis Zammit Dimech, Minister for Tourism and Culture, gave his own thoughts whilst stating that he holds a high belief that Malta was and still remains a good competitor in the sphere of Tourism.

Mr Josef Formosa Gauci, MHRA president, referred to ‘The Challenges Facing the Tourism Industry’ and in turn Mr Austin Calleja, Chief Financial Officer of MIA, spoke about the work which has been and is still being accomplished by MIA. An interesting approach was taken by Mr Joseph Woods, a certified ‘Edward de Bono’ Trainer, who spoke about ‘Tourism Out of the Box-A Lateral Thinking Approach’. Ms Tania Sultana who manages the Research Unit within the MTA referred to the Satellite Account, Prof. Joseph Falzon dedicated his speech to ‘Economic Indicators of Tourism in Malta’ and Prof Edward Zammit, as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy at the University of Malta, dedicated his speech to the Tourism Studies University course and its aims and benefits.

A presentation was given by two BA (Hons) Tourism Studies students, Ms Johanna Calleja and Ms Rebekah Camilleri Kamsky who focused on ‘Online Marketing: Ideas from student perspectives’.

The participants then enjoyed a series of workshops to end the conference. They were given a choice of three workshops to take part in, these being: “The Euro and Malta’s Tourism”, “Bridging the Education Gap” and “Malta’s Marketing, Image and Branding”. In each workshop, the respective topic was discussed in detail. Afterwards, two members from each workshop pointed out the main issues which were highlighted in the respective discussions to the rest of the audience.

This Conference was the first major event organized by TSA together with MHRA, with the intention of exposing the aims and potential of the BA Tourism Studies students at the University of Malta.