The various opportunities that are being made available for tourism operators, specifically the Grant Scheme for Sustainable Tourism Projects applied for by the Tourism and Sustainable Development Unit, were discussed during an EU Information session organised by Bank of Valletta and the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) in collaboration with the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) and the Tourism and Sustainable Development Unit within the Office of the Prime Minister.

The information session was held at The Cettina Decesare Ballroom at the Intercontinental Hotel, St. Julian’s, last Thursday, the 17th of July 2008.

In his opening Address, Mr. Kevin de Cesare, President of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association focused on the Maltese tourism industry and on the positive period of growth that this industry is experiencing. This year saw a double digit growth in the number of passenger arrivals when compared to last year. In the first five months of 2008 the number of tourists increased by 16.5%, whilst bed-nights increased by 6.3% when compared to the same period last year. Notwithstanding these positive results, there is a need for an increased focus on enhancing the experience of foreign visitors when exploring the charm of the Maltese islands. A change in the business mix has also been noted, with the amount of tour operator traffic decreasing and incidental travel increasing due to the arrival of low cost carriers such as Ryanair and EasyJet. These carried 237,000 passengers, accounting for 9.56% of passenger traffic to and from Malta

Mr de Cesare concluded by emphasizing the need for sustainable tourism and a further improvement in our product development as a means to achieve further growth. The proposed Grant Schemes will continue to enhance the tourist product by assisting in the area of access to finance.

Mr. Albert Frendo, Executive Head Credit Risk at Bank of Valletta spoke about the Importance of SMEs within the Maltese Tourism Industry. He noted how encouraging it is that the Maltese Government has clearly stated that a considerable part of the more than EUR 855 million given to Malta by the EU for the programming period 2007- 2013 will be devoted to further strengthening the local tourist product.

This is certainly a vote of confidence by the local authorities in this important sector. Bank of Valletta believes that it has all the requisites including knowledge and set up to be the natural and obvious chosen intermediary well placed to assist its clients to tap into EU financing opportunities. Given the myriad of complexities surrounding the tapping of EU funds, the Bank has taken the initiative with the MHRA to carry out these series of tangible initiatives to foster awareness amongst the business community within the tourism sector.

The Grant Scheme was explained in detail by Ms. Marie Louise Mangion, Head of Unit, and Ms. Daniela Azzopardi of the Tourism and Sustainable Development Unit within the Office of the Prime Minister.

They explained how the Tourism and Sustainable Development Unit within the Office of the Prime Minister submitted its proposal for the Grant Scheme for Sustainable Tourism Projects by Enterprises to the Managing Authority. The scheme will run on a €10 million budget of public co-financing.

The Grant Scheme for Sustainable Tourism Projects by Enterprises aims to achieve Sustainable Tourism Development, which includes economic, social and environmental sustainability and which will contribute towards strengthening Malta’s competitive advantage. The beneficiaries of this scheme include small, medium and large enterprises, groups of companies, start-ups, as well as networks. Applicants will have to submit their project proposals under five intervention areas.

Project applications submitted will be evaluated according to an Evaluation Process which is set in three phases, Eligibility, Preliminary Evaluation and Strategic Evaluations. It is necessary that applicants pass all three phases in order to make it to the final ranking. The Evaluation Process is set on different criteria and applicants will be asked how their project will target the different issues. The Strategic Priorities, which have the most weighting in the evaluation process, include Innovation, IT and Environmental Sustainability. Most importantly, project proposals will have to show how their project targets the National Tourism Policy in terms of seasonality and other issues which make up the General Policy.

Following a number of interesting interventions from the floor, which sparked off a varied and interesting discussion on the subject, the session was brought to a formal close by Dr Mario de Marco, Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism within the Office of the Prime Minister.

Permalink: Tourism operators opportunities – BOV EU information meeting