Interview: Malta seeks to widen tourism horizons, says minister

VALLETTA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Malta's Minister for Tourism Edward Zammit Lewis has said that Malta, which promotes itself as a tourist destination internationally, is looking to welcome more visitors from far away Asia including from China.

In a recent interview with Xinhua on the occasion of Malta's 10th anniversary of joining the European Union (EU), the minister said that while this sun and sea tourism destination in the heart of the Mediterranean is currently hitting record levels of annual tourism, it is looking to diversify the mix to include more visitors from outside the EU.

While the tourism industry was presently mainly focused on the streams of EU visitors, particularly from Britain, neighboring Italy, France, Germany and lately Spain, the minister said, Malta's well-established English-language education sector, which presently accounts for nearly 10 percent of the 1.58 million annual tourists, was eager to welcome longer-stay, student visitors from outside the EU and from Asia in particular.

"With regard to the Chinese market, we need as well to adapt ourselves," he said. "But I am confident that the private sector which is very strong, especially in the English language sector, is ready to adapt and they are very eager to attract students from the Asian market."

While the procurement of a travel visa has been an issue in the past for prospective visitors from China, sometimes having to collect armfuls of documentation over a period of months and then travel all the way to Beijing to pick up the visa, the process has now been streamlined, with more work being done to improve the situation, the minister said.

He said the government agencies are taking initiatives relax Malta's visa policy, making the visa procedure more efficient and expedient for visitors for both tourist and business purposes.

The minister said that Malta is set to hit record levels of 1.6 million tourists annually -- three times the islands' own population. Tourism constitutes nearly 30 percent of the Maltese economy, the minister added.

But the minister stressed that the tiny archipelago must seek an equilibrium to avoid becoming a victim of its own success and maintain an balance between economic growth and development imperative and preserving both residents' quality of life and the quality of the tourism offer itself.

"That is in fact my main challenge at this point in time because we're hitting a record," he said, forecasting the number of visitors to hit 1.6 million this year or next year. He said that some hotels were seeing summer peak occupation rates already in May.

"I have to underline the fact that high numbers are very important... However numbers mean other challenges, to our infrastructure as a small country, to our cleanliness, to the way we project ourselves," he explained.

In night club areas with around-the-clock service, law and order, as well as noise pollution, were additional challenges posed by mass tourism, especially in the peak season, the minister said.

"So what are we doing is preparing not to let the situation get out of hand," the minister said.

Malta is among the top 10 most densely populated countries worldwide.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-05/14/c_133331527.htm