The Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, Dr Mario de Marco has said that there is no doubt that the international financial and economic crisis is leaving its effect on our tourism industry.

Referring to the January 2009 tourism figures released by the NSO, Dr de Marco said that the tourism performance we have witnessed over the last three months coincides with the recession which has gripped the economies of our core markets.

Dr de Marco added that the current tourism performance is also due in part to a drop in seat capacity by airlines this winter. According to the Official Airline Guide, there were 83,000 fewer flights offered by airlines within the EU this winter than in the winter of 2007/2008. Malta suffered as well in this regard with the loss of Cologne & Stuttgart, Bremen & Valencia, and Milan (Malpensa) routes by Germanwings, Ryanair and Alitalia respectively.

The situation related to the drop in seat capacity will start to be phased out around April with the new routes of Bristol and Newcastle being introduced in that period by Ryanair and Easyjet respectively. Edinburgh will be introduced by Ryanair in June.

Dr de Marco emphasised the need to evaluate our current results in the light of the two successive record years we have just had, namely 2007 and 2008 respectively.

“In effect we are eating into 2008’s gain and retrenching to 2007 levels, given that the number of tourist arrivals in January 09 is 12,000 less than January 08 but in the same levels as those reached in January 2007 (51,643: 2009 / 63,850: 2008 / 51,736: 2007). In so far as total nights in January spent by tourists are concerned, the drop compared with January 2008 is of 23,2000 nights (-4.6%), but there is in effect a gain of 39,031 nights (+8.75%) over January 2007 (484,626: 2009 / 507,826: 2008 / 445,595: 2007). This shows that, notwithstanding the current difficulties, the industry is still holding its ground,” added Dr de Marco.

In concluding, Dr de Marco emphasised the need of government and all stakeholders working together to weather the storm. “Our collective energies are to continue to be focused on having an effective overseas marketing campaign; making the most of our existent routes; establishing, where feasible, new routes; and working on an innovative product offer with an emphasis on the quality of service and good value for money.”

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