Tourism chief hopes for better relationship with Air Malta

The chief executive of the Malta Tourism Authority has augured for the improvement of relations with national airline Air Malta, in a bid to improve cooperation between the two entities.

Josef Formosa Gauci said Air Malta was passing through its own problems and restructuring, but hoped there will be better cooperation between the tourism authority and the national airline, which is going through a €238 million restructuring.

"It's no secret that I wish our relationship with Air Malta was better. What we're trying to do is work closer with the national airline and tour operators, who are still accountable for 45% of incoming tourists who chose legacy airlines. One of our strongest assets on this island is that we can take decisions together on the same table with oth the airline and tour operators."

The MTA chief said Malta had managed to clinch record tourist arrivals of 1.4 million, as well as 11.7 million guest nights and a record €1.2 billion expenditure in 2011, even from source markets that were experiencing some form of recession. "Tourists expect good value for money, and we are improving the standard of our product every year," Formosa Gauci said.

Key to these records was improving accessibility to Malta through a mix of low-fares airline and legacy airline routes, and targeting marketing during specific times of the year and promoting particular niches.

"We don't have the same budgets as Egypt or Turkey do, but we make sure we get the most bang for our bucks. In the next days we'll host an Italian production that uses Malta as a base and centres its story around the island: 90 minutes' coverage on Italian TV Canale 5 would be unaffordable in another scenario," Formosa Gauci said.

The chief executive defended his decision to sponsor Sheffield United Football Club, which was relegated in 2006 to the English Championship League, as part of a "good balance" in the MTA's marketing mix.

"It was important because it gave us coverage in that area [of the UK football audience], and that Malta was not a vacation for the elderly only. We're still associated with them.

"Now we are positioning product Malta inside Harrod's, in London, targeting another niche of tourists."

Formosa Gauci added that the MTA's focus on Malta's individual niches - diving, walking in Gozo, farmhouse holidays, conferences and English-language holidays - had contributed to the overall formula to fight the recession in demand.

Josef Formosa Gauci was being interviewed by Saviour Balzan on Favourite Channel's Reporter