'clinging to an icon'
Anna Mallia in MaltaToday unfortunately fails to grasp that low fares are for the time being the be all and end all for the Maltese tourism industry, and moreover that the attention given to Ryanair last week still does not balance the lack of interest that dominated most of the last two years.
The introduction of Ryanair to the Maltese market is not a matter of 'clinging to an icon'. It simply is a deserved welcome for a low cost carrier whose commercial ambitions coincide with the national interest. The country needs and deserves a healthy tourism industry and though there are many problems to be solved the issue of sufficient seat capacity at affordable prices is a conditio sine qua non. Ryanair was and is the only large low fares airline with enough patience and goodwill to strike a deal. By doing so, the airline has given new momentum to the solution of many other issues.
Air Malta now feels that it is faced with competition and is serving the needs of the tourism industry and outbound travellers better than it has done for many years by offering a fairly good service and a number of seats at competitive prices. Hotels and other tourism operators now have more confidence in the future and this will have a positive impact on their willingness to make the necessary investments. This does not necessarily mean building new hotels, but refurbishing hotels, keeping hotels open in Winter, training staff, etcetera. Speaking about training, it has now become much cheaper to send tourism industry employees to Italy or the UK for training, and properly trained staff will become part of the solution of the tourism industry rather than cause its problems. The property market will also benefit from the potential inflow of foreign holiday residence owners who can now afford to hop over for a weekend. And these are just examples. Many problems will remain, but with the new impetus given by low fares there is both an incentive and a need for change and improvement, without which Malta will not be able to exploit the new chance to compete with other destinations.
One must however agree with Anna Mallia that Robbie Borg deserves more respect than he has received. At the same time, this does not mean that airliens like Ryanair should be treated with disrespect, and at times the Government's attitude came dangerously close.
The introduction of Ryanair to the Maltese market is not a matter of 'clinging to an icon'. It simply is a deserved welcome for a low cost carrier whose commercial ambitions coincide with the national interest. The country needs and deserves a healthy tourism industry and though there are many problems to be solved the issue of sufficient seat capacity at affordable prices is a conditio sine qua non. Ryanair was and is the only large low fares airline with enough patience and goodwill to strike a deal. By doing so, the airline has given new momentum to the solution of many other issues.
Air Malta now feels that it is faced with competition and is serving the needs of the tourism industry and outbound travellers better than it has done for many years by offering a fairly good service and a number of seats at competitive prices. Hotels and other tourism operators now have more confidence in the future and this will have a positive impact on their willingness to make the necessary investments. This does not necessarily mean building new hotels, but refurbishing hotels, keeping hotels open in Winter, training staff, etcetera. Speaking about training, it has now become much cheaper to send tourism industry employees to Italy or the UK for training, and properly trained staff will become part of the solution of the tourism industry rather than cause its problems. The property market will also benefit from the potential inflow of foreign holiday residence owners who can now afford to hop over for a weekend. And these are just examples. Many problems will remain, but with the new impetus given by low fares there is both an incentive and a need for change and improvement, without which Malta will not be able to exploit the new chance to compete with other destinations.
One must however agree with Anna Mallia that Robbie Borg deserves more respect than he has received. At the same time, this does not mean that airliens like Ryanair should be treated with disrespect, and at times the Government's attitude came dangerously close.
posted by Low Fares for Malta at
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
|
0 comments
links to this post
