Fewer foreign students expected this year

The number of international students studying English as a foreign language in Malta is expected to fall this year. The protracted economic crisis in Malta's main markets, including Italy, Spain and France seem to be the key factors behind this drop.

"Over the past years, we have seen the effect of the economic strain in a number of countries which are important source markets for Malta. This has negatively impacted the economic ability of students to invest in their language skills," noted Genevieve Abela, CEO of the Federation of English Language Teaching Organisations in Malta (FELTOM).

The decrease in numbers follows a very successful 2012, in which over 81,000 students arrived in Malta. In fact, last year was the most successful since 2008. In July, which is peak season, this 'English language teaching' industry amounted to 13.5% of the total tourists who arrived in Malta during the month.

Statistics from the National Statistics Office also show that last year, students spent more than 225,000 nights in Malta, equivalent to roughly 12% of the total bed nights. They had an average stay of almost three weeks.

Remarking that conditions in source markets determine whether Malta would have a good year in this sector or not, she says the economic recession across Europe was the reason why Malta did not register two consecutive annual growths over the past five years. "With that high level of uncertainty, together with worsening economic conditions including millions of job losses, economic affordability was hard hit and tourism including ELT as a niche market suffered decreases in numbers and nights spent," Abela says.

The last time Malta registered two consecutive years of growth was between 2007 and 2008. In the stakeholders' view, 2008 was a record year, in which this industry provided 6.5% of the total tourist arrivals. More than 83,000 students arrived in 2008.

Naturally, the United Kingdom remains the frontrunner in this sector and Malta's main competitor. But Abela believes that Malta's progress will still yield results.

"When one looks at the development of the ELT industry in Malta, it is apparent that we have made great strides in establishing a global centre of excellence in ELT. Malta enjoys a great international reputation and the ELT industry is significantly contributing to Malta's economy already," FELTOM's CEO remarks.

But does Malta depend on the individual marketing strategies of the 40 schools established in Malta?

Abela replies in the negative. "Firstly, on a national level the Malta Tourism Authority markets Malta as a destination for language stays. On a sectorial level, we promote Malta as a destination based in quality and high standards together with an enjoyable environment for students to learn English. The schools complement these marketing efforts through their individual campaigns which further promotes Malta as a destination of choice for students."

Will this industry grow in the near future? While encouraging the government to keep investing, Abela highlighted Malta's need to continue adopting a high-standard approach, in order to continue to grow. The local use of spoken English is also an important factor.

"It is imperative that investments continue in the educational system, especially in terms of spoken English. Our ability to continue to attract students to learn English depends on our capability as a nation to use English natively" she notes.

The future also lies on offering particular niche areas of this industry, mainly through specialized courses such as English for medicine, aviation and financial services among others. This, together with tapping into the emerging markets of South America, the Middle East and North Africa, would help the industry to improve its performance all year round, Abela concludes.

Taking into consideration what happened in 2009 can highlight the importance of this sector to Malta's tourism. In the first year after the global recession, the number of students decreased by more than 14,000 when compared to 2008. Despite this substantial decrease, this still meant 5.8% of the total tourists' arrivals in 2009.

From a total of around 40 schools, these employ around 1,300 persons annually even though 85-90% of those are required only for the summer season. The vast majority of those employees are usually University students seeking summer employment.

The majority of foreign students are EU nationals. Statistics from NSO show the Italian market as the largest in Malta. Germany, Russia, France and Spain followed.