It has been a year characterised by sensible decisions — Sam Mifsud

MTA reaction to the NSO tourism figures for November 2007 & 2007 round-up

The National Statistics Office (NSO) stated this morning that the official tourism figures for November 2007 include an increase in tourists of %15.3 over the same month last year, bringing the January - November totals to 1,191,978, or an increase of 114,225 tourists over the same period in 2006, which is equal to an increase of %10.6.  It is therefore a foregone conclusion that 2007 will be an all-time record for the Maltese tourism industry, especially wherein tourist numbers are concerned, the 'record' year so far having been the year 2000 with 1.215 million tourists recorded.  All things remaining equal, December should also register an increase over last year, seeing as though the airline passenger movements for this month currently show an increase over December 2006 of approximately %10.  What's also worth noting is that the %15.3 increase registered in November this year means an increase over an increase, since November 2006 had registered growth over the previous year's figures… one of the very few months in 2006 to do so.

Reacting to the NSO figures, Malta Tourism Authority chairman, Sam Mifsud, stated that:

"2007 is definitely one for the books where tourism is concerned.  It's been a record year in every regard, and one which has brought a much-needed sense of relief and even optimism to all sectors of the country's Tourism Industry.  We have worked very hard to achieve these results and have also been very actively co-operating with government, through the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, and all industry stakeholders.  Moreover, it has been a year characterised by sensible decisions, especially with regards to our overseas marketing efforts, where the MTA has been able to make much better use of the resources at our disposal, resulting in better overall coverage for Malta in our core markets.  And this is precisely how we need to go about things in 2008:  Plenty of hard work and constant co-operation between all those involved in Malta's tourism industry."

As for the increases registered in Malta's core markets (for example, UK + %12.6 & Ireland +%87), Mr. Mifsud said that:

It has been very encouraging to note that our efforts to strengthen our core markets have achieved the desired results, especially with our no.1 market, the UK and Ireland. We've also managed to maintain growth in other important markets such as Germany and Italy, which were showing problems last year and earlier on this year, whilst reversing the constant haemorrage that was being registered in France, registering growth, albeit a small increase, for the first time in ages.  We still need to keep our feet firmly on the ground. 2008 is not going to be a picnic, especially in the light of the fact that 2007 is going to be a very hard act to follow.  Nonetheless we look towards the forthcoming year with cautious optimism, comforted by the knowledge that our direction is clear and we know precisely where we want to be headed.  Apart from continuing to strengthen our core markets and registering further growth there, we also see plenty of scope in strengthening relatively new markets such as Scandinavia and Spain, which this year have shown plenty of potential. Our goals for 2008 will also include tapping further into the huge short-breaks market, continuing to strengthen the flight capacity to Malta as well as focusing on increasing visitor numbers in the off-peak periods".