Minister for Tourism Edward Zammit Lewis attended the Malta International Airport (MIA) press conference announcing the passenger traffic results for 2015.

The Minister noted with satisfaction that 2015 has been another record year for MIA, as it was for the tourism sector in general. Dr Zammit Lewis explained that "whilst most of our competitors are experiencing fluctuations in tourism trends from year to year, Malta is witnessing years of sustained growth in airport passenger activity."

The Minister for Tourism outlined that this increase is contributing positively to the growth of Malta's inbound tourism performance which, in turn, produces a climate of optimism and confidence also for the longer term among all stakeholders within the tourism sector.

Dr Edward Zammit Lewis emphasised that connectivity is one of the main pillars of Malta's tourism policy because of our almost absolute dependence on air travel and much effort is underway on this front to always open new routes while supporting and growing existing ones.

While discussing growth in tourism volumes and segments, the Tourism Minister stated that this can be sustained only if the ways for tourists to reach our destination, are simplified. Dr Zammit Lewis maintained that presently we can boast direct links to 90 airports linking Malta with its source markets, compared to 45 airports until only ten years ago.

Minister Zammit Lewis stated that such positive results for MIA, clearly stemmed from a clear strategy and company direction, aimed at increasing existing routes and frequencies while the introducing new routes from identified target markets.

He explained that 2015 was a record year in itself with a total of 4.6 million passengers who landed and departed through the gates of MIA signifying an important and notable growth of 7.7% over 2014.

With reference to Air Malta, Dr Edward Zammit Lewis said that the national airline managed to retain the same volumes as those obtained in 2014 in spite of negative performances from two of its traditional key markets, namely Russia and Libya.

He emphasised that this implied that Air Malta continued to perform strongly in spite of stiff overall competition and some unfortunate situations that were beyond the airline's control.

The Minister remarked that other established legacy carriers such as Lufthansa, Alitalia, British Airways and Emirates had mixed fortunes whilst moderate to strong growth was registered by Ryanair, Wizzair, Norwegian, SAS, Turkish Airlines, Fly Niki.

Dr Zammit Lewis also made reference to newcomers Finnair and Jet 2, where the latter commenced services only last year immediately servicing five British airports.

The Tourism Minister outlined that the number of seats floated by airlines that operated to MIA during 2015 grew by 5.8%, which compared very healthily with the reported 7.7% growth in passenger movements. The Minister said that this meant that the number of passengers increased at a higher rate than the number of available seats.

Furthermore, he explained that during the full twelve months of 2015 overall airline load factors improved by 1.8% to reach the level of 81%, this meant that more than eight out of every ten seats available were actually utilised.

"We expect 2015 to boast record tourist results in terms of actual head count, overnight stays and tourism expenditure. I am also very pleased to note that tourism expenditure has been consistently growing at a faster rate than total tourism arrivals, implying that the quality of our tourists and their economic contribution continues to improve and grow," said the Minister.

The Minister for Tourism also made reference to the outlook for 2016, which he described as a challenging year and encouraged all stakeholders to work hand in hand to further build on the very positive results achieved to date.

Dr Zammit Lewis noted that the indicators from the markets were all positive; however, the Minister also emphasised that this industry should never be taken for granted as competition was extensive and aggressive, and the external political and economic risks should never be underestimated.

Dr Edward Zammit Lewis thanked the board of directors, management and all staff at Malta International Airport for their sterling work and for the company's strong spirit of collaboration with all stakeholders within this sector.

"I fully recognise MIA's central role in the tourism value chain and also take this opportunity to reiterate the Government's utmost commitment and support to the tourism industry, in order to continue aspiring for even more success in the months and years to come" concluded the Minister.

Photograph: DOI/Omar Camilleri

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