TravTalk Middle East Online Magazine
Over the past few years, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has been a new but lucrative market for Malta Tourism Authority, which bagged the ‘Best Market Engagement by a Tourism Board’ title at Arabian Travel Award 2023. Arthur Grima, Marketing Director, Malta Tourism Authority, says that they expect Qatar Airways to start operations ‘very soon’ to Malta.
Dr. Shehara Rizly
Whilst Malta beat the 2019 visitor numbers by September this year, GCC spend for the country has been the highest. Keeping this in view, Malta Tourism Authority has formulated campaigns to cater to the GCC market, shares Arthur Grima, Marketing Director, Malta Tourism Authority, in an exclusive interview at the Qatar Travel Mart. “One of the main reasons that we are participating at Qatar Travel Mart is to showcase our rich offerings to the travellers from Qatar. We are also expecting Qatar Airways to start operating direct flights very soon to Malta. In the meantime, of course, there are other airlines operating with convenient connections via other European points,” Grima shares.
“We had a very interesting and fast recovery post the pandemic. I have to say that we have always remained active and, on the market, even during the pandemic, so that we facilitate the rebound. During that time of the pandemic, we took the opportunity to train our staff, to train the industry, so they are ready when the business returns and the business did return. And, in fact, we are running ahead of 2019 figures. 2019 was our record year when we reached over 2.7 million. At this point in time, until September, we are ahead by like 150,000 more than what we had in 2019. So, we are looking forward to close the year with a new record, both when it comes to visitor numbers and also as regards to spend. So, the revenue from tourism has increased a lot,” Grima explained.
Grima says that their tourism future is focused on the GCC market, as they like to focus on quality of travellers and this has been an untapped source market for them over the years. As a new source market, they have seen a keen interest from the region to explore new destinations, hence they will be conducting various campaigns to ensure that they attract the GCC travellers. “The GCC is a brand new market for us. We are still growing here. We are still in our infancy. We are still learning. However, these are very important markets because they represent the future for us, because they represent the type of clients which we are aiming to attract. Better quality, better spend, and it’s part of our overall strategy to improve the quality of our tourism,” Grima reiterated.
Malta Tourism Authority has been active in the GCC over the past few years through their representative Aviareps, which has been closely engaging with the travel trade, as well as TravTalk, on various promotional campaigns. Grima further explained how the Maltese language can be an asset to the GCC, as it includes a number of words that are Arabic, French, and Italian. For example, the counting of numbers are same as in Arabic. “One added advantage for our island, for visitors from this region is that all the Maltese speak English. English is, in fact, an official language as well. However, interestingly enough, our language, the Maltese language, is the only Semitic language in the world written in Latin alphabet. So, when I meet my colleagues in the morning, I say ‘Bongu’, which for you is French, but for us is Maltese. And in the evening when I leave from work, I say ‘caw’, which sounds Italian for you, but for us it is Maltese. However, if we are counting numbers, we say, wiehed, tnein, tileta, erbgha, hamsa, sitta (Arabic numbers), which sound very similar to and are basically Arabic. And there are a lot of other words which are Arabic, like man in Maltese is ragel, sea is bahar. So, we have got a lot of similarities in our language. Also, our old capital city is Mdina. We have towns with Arabic names like Rabat. We have surnames, which are also of Arabic origin, like Muscat. So, I think it’s an interesting blend to learn the similarities in culture and heritage as well. This country can surprise you in many ways,” Grima explained.
Their target for the next year is to receive over 3 million tourists. Hitting this landmark number rests within the travel trade in the Middle East, but they are also working on many other campaigns which also attract more women from the GCC to explore the various activities they seek in a destination. Grima shares, “we listen to our audience, the travel trade provides us with various information which enables us to stay up to date and proactive, hence we expect next year to continue with this momentum that we have witnessed this year and remain on an upward growth trajectory.”
Apart from their B2B campaigns, they will also focus on B2C by running 365 screens in Dubai Mall promoting their winter season, where the world spends their time looking out for quality products, brands and experiences.
