Speech by the Minister for Tourism Dr. Edward Zammit Lewis during the General Meeting of the Swiss Federation of Travel Agents ‘More air connectivity to Switzerland in 2015 will increase opportunities to enhance Swiss Tourism to Malta’ Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to Malta and express my satisfaction that you selected our country, among others, for this year’s General Meeting of the Swiss Federation of Travel Agents. Personally it is with immense appreciation that I welcome delegates for another conference to our shores especially when originating from the travel trade of a special market such as Switzerland. Here, we witness the merger of our two main branches of tourism, namely leisure and business. The Maltese tourism sector has matured over the years and we have experienced much progress. For decades, Malta has served as the ideal traditional ‘sun and sea’ product especially for the visitors from the North side of Europe. But nowadays we are seeing a shift from the traditional beach holiday to a widest possible range of sources, including a healthy mix of tour operator clients and independent visitors. The secret behind our success is based on a policy of increased accessibility, a wider seasonal offer and improved visibility in the market-place. Since 2006, we have doubled the number of airports offering direct airline services to Malta from 45, at that time, to 93 this year alone. Our seasonality has continued to improve as we have managed to increase the number of off-peak tourists by developing low-season products such as city-breaks, activity holidays, increased MICE business and many others. We have also made good use of the opportunities brought about by the digital media revolution to extend our message to a broader spectrum of potential visitors, thereby succeeding in the re-positioning of our destination in consumers’ minds. The results speak for themselves. Since 2009 Malta has achieved record results in terms of arrivals, overnights and expenditure year in year out and this year’s performance indicate that we are on track for further records in all three benchmarks even this year, yet again. This record performance is totally to the economic benefit of our businesses and families. We have widened our appeal to a broader set of source markets and today attract visitors from even more European countries together with a mix of more distant visitors from the Americas, Asia and the Middle East. Moreover, we have reduced our traditional dependence on British tourism which now accounts for 28% of total tourists, although still very important to us as this market generates around half a million tourists annually. The Swiss market is a very interesting and important one for Malta. Having dropped to a low of 21,000 visitors in 2009, the number of tourists from Switzerland has rebounded to reach almost 29,000 last year. Figures for the first nine months of this year indicate a 14% increase suggesting that we will reach around 35,000 Swiss tourists by end of this year, generating almost 300,000 overnight stays and 40 million Euro worth of expenditure. Three out of every four Swiss tourists to Malta arrive for holiday purposes while one in every ten visit us for business purposes. The Zurich and Berne urban areas account for one in every three Swiss tourists with the remainder spread evenly around the country. The average age of the Swiss tourist visiting Malta is 47 years, with Spring and Summer season tourists tending to be younger. Swiss tourists visit Malta due to its novelty factor, its agreeable climate, its rich history and culture, its ease of accessibility and the value for money associated with the destination. Around 45% book a whole tour operator package. 82% of Swiss visitors spend their entire stay on the main island of Malta staying an average of 8 nights while 12% spend their whole stay on the island of Gozo, logging a much longer 15.6 night average length of stay. Two in every three Swiss tourists to Malta are on their first ever visit while one in every three have been here already: a number of which for a multiple number of previous visits. 75% of Swiss tourists surveyed by the Malta Tourism Authority intend to visit Malta again with 47% declaring that they are likely to do so within the next two years. Due to the successes we have registered from the Swiss market we are pleased to announce that our accessibility shall continue to improve. Besides the already existing routes operated by our national airline, Air Malta, servicing Zurich and Geneva (daily and twice weekly respectively), and the twice weekly service by Air Berlin from Basel, next summer will see the return of Swiss operating from the start nothing less than four weekly flights from Zurich. This will mean that Malta will have up to 15 flights per week to and from Switzerland as of next summer and this opens up new opportunities for us to work together in order to increase Swiss inbound tourism and business even further. There is an absolute air of optimism within the country and a clear sense that Malta is heading in the right direction. I conclude by assuring you that our overall objective remains centered round the delivery of a better quality product and experience based on a distinct and authentic Maltese Mediterranean welcome. I would like to take this opportunity to wish the Central Committee and the members present an excellent stay in Malta and I trust that your experience here will prove helpful for promoting Malta as an excellent destination to your clients. Thank you for your attention.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 13:57:38 +0000
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