1 comment.Tourism sector needs concrete support with emphasis on niches – PN
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The Nationalist Party’s Chief Spokesperson Peter Agius and election Candidate Darren Carabott, have explained PN’s proposals for the tourism sector, with an emphasis, they said, on tourist niches, during a press conference held in Dwejra, Gozo.
Among the niches identified are gastronomy and the better use of the Maltese product, Agri-tourism, Cultural and Religious Heritage as well as Diving. All are explained in detail in 2 + 8 ‘A Way Forward to Tourism Recovery – the Nationalist Party document on tourism recovery.
PN Spokesperson Peter Agius explained how diving schools and agencies that bring in tourists from abroad to enjoy the sea can be helped by the PN’s proposal for co-marketing.
Agius added that, “this would see a new Nationalist Government assist businesses to carry out campaigns aimed at a particular activity and a particular market in a targeted way. This co-marketing leads to aid of up to €25,000 of marketing expenditure.”
Agius also stressed how the Government needs to take a “much more active role in protecting the main resource of this niche – namely the quality of the sea and marine biodiversity.”
“We need to move from species protection to habitat protection. It also needs real enforcement and monitoring, which is currently lacking,” he added.
Agius also mentioned the need for dive sites that are vital to this sector. It was promised that the shipwrecked vessel Hepheastus would be sunk at the tip of Qala, it has so far not been done. “This needs to be carried out immediately as it would mean a boost to the whole sector.”
Carabott explained how the promotion of the tourism sector triggers a “trickle down effect” that benefits workers and small businesses in Malta and Gozo all over various sectors.
He went on to say how the influx of tourists to Malta is “vital both for its direct effects on the turnover of hotels and restaurants and in the indirect effects on sectors that provide services to tour operators.”
Carabott also emphasised on how the Nationalist Party gives “peace of mind in this sector” which has “seen extraordinary progress under Nationalist governments.”
File photo by Alain Salvary
I suggest to those who have any influence on planing a future for Gozo tourism to come to Gozo acompanied with a couple of NEW tourists and spend a week touring Gozo with them. At the end of each day they sit down with them and ask them for their assessment. Apart from crazy driving, small roads and big busses they might say that Gozo is greener than Malta and life moves at a slower pace. They might complain that they found it hard to find traditional food and they always look for some special local food where ever they go. They might complain that many restaurants put them off for they felt they were in other countries rather than Gozo. They were prepared to communicate in the English language but found out that it was very hard to understand the waiters.Then they go to Victoria for a drink and very soon after they sit down they find themselves in Rabat of Morocco. They will admit that they do not want to discriminate but they didn’t expect to find a Gozo with hardly any Gozitans!