[WATCH] Attracting Maltese to hospitality industry ‘a challenge’, Tourism Minister says

Konrad Mizzi says ITS agreement aims to up quality offering

Aiming for quality jobs in the hospitality sector could help attract Maltese to the tourism industry, Konrad Mizzi said, admitting this was a challenge.

“Maltese are preferring other sectors that may not require them to work shifts or at night and this is a challenge. But we believe that creating quality work with greater international recognition will attract Maltese to the industry,” Mizzi said.

Asked whether this had to do with the wages offered by the industry, Mizzi said there were other factors.

The Tourism Minister was speaking to MaltaToday after the signing of a collaboration agreement between the Institute for Tourism Studies and the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, one of the world’s top 10 institutes.

The collaboration will also see the ITS offer an MBA programme by the Dubai-based academy, a prestigious mark in the industry.

Mizzi said that ITS wanted to step up its offering to become a centre of excellence for hospitality training and study.

There are more than 600 Maltese students at ITS and some 300 foreigners.

Mizzi described the agreement as a “milestone” in ITS’s quest to internationalise and up its grade.

“This is another step up to help us reposition out tourism by reducing seasonality, diversify source markets and attract quality tourists,” Mizzi said.

The agreement was signed on Wednesday at the ITS campus in Luqa.

The affiliation will help ITS be better-placed to attract foreign students to pursue their studies in Malta, according to CEO Pierre Fenech.

“This academic affiliation with one of the top-rated education institutes in hospitality management in the world will further the ITS’s ideal of becoming a centre of excellence in the Mediterranean,” Fenech said.

The partnership will also include quality assurance audits of ITS by the Dubai school.

The signing ceremony was also attended by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Parliamentary Secretary Julia Farrugia Portelli.