MTA welcomes MHRA report statistics

Welcoming the statistics published yesterday by the MHRA, the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) said the statistics confirm the positive trends - already highlighted in the monthly figures published by the NSO - that the tourism industry has been experiencing during this year.

"2011 will be another record year in terms of arrivals, guest nights and tourist expenditure, while all indications point towards the total number of tourists visiting our islands this year will be very close to the 1.4 million mark," MTA said in a statement.

The record number comes just one year after reaching the record 1.3 million figure.

The MHRA report showed that the hotel industry is benefitting substantially from the positive results, the Authority said.

"In the nine months reviewed in this report, hotel occupancy, accommodation income and gross operating profits have continued to register the upward trend of the last three years."

The MHRA's report also revealed that while key markets like the UK, Germany and France continued to register sustained growth, 'star performer' Italy has declined by 15% and virtually wiped out the gains registered from other markets.

However, MTA noted the results in tourist arrivals achieved despite a decrease in seat capacity to Malta.  It said that while during the summer months seat capacity reduced by 6%, total arrivals continued to increase in all months apart from August which registered a minimal drop.

"The increases came about as a result of intense marketing efforts carried out by the Malta Tourism Authority, aimed at increasing the load factors on the aircrafts. This trend has continued in October and November," the Authority said. 

"Every effort is being made to fill in all the available capacity this winter so as to ensure that, although a drop in seat capacity is being experienced, the drop in tourist arrivals will be contained."

MTA said efforts to ensure that the seat capacity to Malta in 2012 remains stable are continuing.

"We welcome the recent announcement by Air France that they will start operating to Malta from Toulouse as from next April," the Authority said. "Discussions with other airlines are also continuing."

It added that even though the international climate is very tough, if all stakeholders continue to work together as they have done over the past few years, the challenges the industry will face can be addressed.

Yesterday, MHRA president Tony Zahra also called on stakeholders to continue to work together: "MHRA believes the situation remains very delicate and that with future prospects becoming more uncertain, it is critical that stakeholders continue to work to avoid any unsustainable shocks to an already highly volatile industry."