Inspire rebuts MTA protest, promises court case

Pieta, 01/02/07 - The legal and verbal ping-pong between the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) and Inspire Ltd over the former's new online booking engine continues. Jonathan Shaw, Inspire's managing director, this morning issued a statement rebutting the MTA's counter protest, lodged on Tuesday (see MTA files counter suit against travel agent).

Shaw says the authority's counter protest was "a very weak statement which fails to address the legal objection that we presented.

"On the contrary, following this statement, it is now evident that Visitmalta Ltd is not in possession of a licence which, by law, should be mandatory for all local companies to sell travel services.

"This also contradicts the [MTA] chairman's comments to the press last week whereby he stated that he was sure that Visitmalta Ltd was issued a licence.

"It is worrying and extremely sad to note that the MTA as a regulator is not admitting to the conflict of interest and abusive position it has created. It is competing with local travel agents by fulfilling online bookings directly.

"We agree with the importance of the MTA having, and fully owning visitmalta.com, and we never questioned or challenged this.

"The MTA should have just improved the website and, besides promoting the country, offered an equal and fair system of creating exposure and links to all licensed companies that constitute the local travel sector.

"Selling a hotel booking or car rental at a commission to, say, a tourist from Manchester is now, as it stands, the MTA's new role. Other comments and justifications made by the MTA are off mark, and are solely a means of creating a temporary public relations smoke screen".

Shaw concludes his statement by claiming ChooseMalta.com "now also has the backing of numerous individuals, companies and organisations that believe in our case and we will follow through with court proceedings".

Visitmalta.com sets new record

Valletta, 01/02/07 - The redesigned visitmalta.com site has been averaging 13,615 hits daily since it was launched on 19 January, says the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA).

In January 2006 the daily average was 8,406 visits, however in the first week after the launch of the redesigned site this went up by 62 per cent, a record. "This is even higher than the annual daily average of more than 11,000 visitors registered over the whole of 2006", says the MTA.

Thursday, 25 January, proved to be the most active day of the week when 16,279 visitors clicked their way to visitmalta.com.

"This is very much in line with the accepted profile of independent travellers, who generally start planning a short break for the coming weekend on a Thursday. However, it is interesting to note that the most popular download in this period was the online document listing local travel specialists", says the MTA.

The vast majority (96.7 per cent) of visitors were from Holland, the UK and Italy.

MTA files counter suit against travel agent

Valletta, 30/01/07 - The Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) this afternoon filed a counter-protest against Inspire Ltd, the company that sued it last week over its revamped visitmalta.com web portal. (See Travel agent files judicial letter against MTA.)

The redesigned MTA site was launched on 19 January. "The portal", says the MTA, "especially the booking engine, was developed in close association with the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA), the Federated Association of Travel and Tourism Agents (FATTA), as well as the Rent-A-Car Association (RACA)".

In its counter-suit the authority outlines its position and decision why it revamped its site, citing that:
• It is widely acknowledged that the trend in tourism bookings the world over is shifting towards a significant increase in individuals' online booking.

• The visitmalta.com portal is the largest Maltese website with the inclusion of more than 800 pages of useful information about Malta and Gozo, interactive maps, images and video clips that would render the islands more attractive to potential visitors.

• The portal is interactive and will soon be available in a number of other languages, with complete access provided to persons with special needs.

• In an effort to capitalise on the popularity of visitmalta.com a decision was made to raise this popular website to a higher level of user-interactivity by converting it from an informational website into a transactional portal.

The visitmalta.com portal serves a twofold purpose - it is attracting potential visitors to Malta and enabling them to make bookings online.

The portal has been designed to include the potential to be further developed into a full online one-stop shop - consolidating and distributing a comprehensive and varied range of tourism products, providing real-time reservations, supporting both large and small independent tourism suppliers, promoting a variety of services from all those interested in benefiting from the popularity of visitmalta.com.

The new portal will also benefit from a number of search optimization procedures that will further enhance the visibility of the site on different search engines.

The visitmalta.com site is ranked number one in the search results when typing the word 'Malta' on the principal search engines, such as Google.

Last year the unique visits to visitmalta.com increased by 68 per cent over the previous year, bringing the total visits for the year up to nearly four million.

Keeping this in mind, it is a logical assertion that the strength of the visitmalta.com portal can be utilised in such a way, by incorporating a booking engine, to further the growth of the Maltese tourism industry.

The authority is convinced that by launching the visitmalta.com portal and booking engine, the MTA is fulfilling its legal obligations by promoting the country to the best of its abilities whilst seeking to further ensure the continued growth of the tourism industry.

In a magnanimous gesture, the MTA says its reworked site "represents a new level of collaboration between private industry and the Malta Tourism Authority", and this just four days after FATTA - which supposedly assisted with the new site - questioned its legality (see FATTA calls on government to honour commitments).

Meanwhile, regarding the judicial protest filed by Inspire last week, the authority says it was instrumental in providing a unique opportunity for the Pieta-based company to develop its own site using EU funds. "Through the MTA's scheme, Inspire Ltd was allocated Lm16,254 from the EU co-funded structural funds, for the development of its own website" - choosemalta.com.

Inspire and choosemalta.com appear on the visitmalta.com site and booking engine, "all relevant details being passed to the MTA by the FATTA"

When a request for proposals was issued for the re-engineering of the visitmalta e-tourism portal, Inspire's managing director proposed integrating the visitmalta.com site with the choosemalta.com, "thus exploiting visitmalta's popularity to the exclusive advantage of Inspire".

The choosemalta.com site forms part of the choosetotravel group, which also promotes destinations that are direct competitors of Malta.

Whereas visitmalta.com promotes Malta exclusively whilst on the choosemalta.com site one finds various links to sites promoting travel to Turkey, Tunisia, Croatia, Morocco, Dubai, Corsica and Libya.

FATTA calls on government to honour commitments

Valletta, 26/01/07 - Two days after a travel agent sued the Malta Tourism Authority over the legality of the latter's online booking facility, the Federated Association of Travel & Tourism Agents (FATTA) has issued a statement asking the government to "revisit the commitments it made last year, when it announced the much flaunted incentives to stimulate tourism", (see Travel agent files judicial letter against MTA).

The principal incentive, a commitment by the government to subsidise low cost carriers, is "backfiring badly on the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) and its budget", says FATTA. "Although government had given the impression that it would specifically finance this as an additional commitment, the reality is that the buck has now been passed on to the MTA", claims FATTA.

"The result is that the MTA has to allocate Lm750,000 of its advertising and promotional budget to honour the government's commitment, without getting a single additional cent from the government for this purpose".

Another incentive was the commitment to set up a portal that would be a booking engine. "Again, the government has driven the MTA to an irregular and anti-competitive position, where it is now not only the industry regulator but also a market player competing against some of its very own stakeholders and contributors", says FATTA.

The incentive aimed at putting Air Malta on a level playing field and eliminating its Lm300,000 annual contribution to the MTA is a further blow to the MTA's budget, alleges the travel agents' federation, as the loss of that revenue has not been compensated by the government. "It is the MTA that is carrying the burden of the government's commitments".

It seems that the government is ignoring the fact that the strategy to try to attract direct business means that the marketing and advertising spend needs to be substantially increased, suggests FATTA.

Instead, the government is putting the MTA in a position were it has to reduce its advertising and marketing spend to meet these commitments. "Worse still, some of these funds are actually serving to subsidise local residents to travel abroad.

"To rub salt into the wound, the government has stealthily U-turned on its commitment to the private sector to reduce its contribution to the MTA by 50 per cent. The Federated Association of Travel and Tourism Agents is therefore calling on the government to revisit its commitments, to make additional funds available to the MTA and to honour the commitment to reduce private sector contributions to the MTA by 50 per cent.

Mondial launches season of roundtrip cruising from Malta

Floriana, 24/01/07 - This morning tour operator Mondial announced a series of 21 cruises from Valletta, aboard Pullmantur's Sky Wonder from Lm379 per person.

Home ported in Barcelona, the 47,000 tonne Sky Wonder will operate seven night western Mediterranean cruises that will call at Tunis, Valletta, Messina, Civitavecchia (for Rome) and Villefranche (for Nice and Monte Carlo), before returning to its Spanish port.

The Sky Wonder - with a capacity of 1,550 passengers - is an all-inclusive cruise liner, which means that the fare covers meals, entertainment and drinks in all bars and food outlets, "thus saving passengers a considerable amount of money".

Mondial has negotiated with Spain's Pullmantur Cruises for Valletta to be a port of embarkation, thus allowing residents to go on cruises starting and finishing here. Cruises from Malta will be available from 4 July to 12 September, although the Sky Wonder will be calling here from the end of June until mid-November.

The lead-in price for a cruise starting on 4 July is Lm379 per person sharing a twin, inside cabin. As an incentive to book early, Mondial is knocking off Lm40 per person if a cruise is booked before 31 January.

On top of the fare add Lm84 in port taxes and service charges plus Eur65 (Lm27.90) in tips per person - payable by those aged two and above - and the cost is Lm490.90. If one prefers a twin cabin with a porthole add Lm88 per person to the price tag.

"This product", says Mondial's general manager Michael Abele, "is by far the lowest priced cruise departing from Malta this summer".

Prices escalate to Lm429 per person, exclusive of taxes and tips, for a cruise in August.

"This is also a family friendly ship", says Abele, "as there are a large number of four berth cabins".

Children aged two to 16 and sharing their parents' cabin pay Lm49 throughout the sailing season - exclusive of taxes.

Amathus Travel, meanwhile, will also be selling packages in Cyprus that will include round trip flights on Emirates, a stay in Malta plus a cruise aboard the Sky Wonder. "Hundreds of passengers" are expected from Cyprus.

Mondial and Amathus, who are also Emirates's GSA in Cyprus, expect to sell "between 2,000 and 3,000 cruise holidays this summer".

Minister for Tourism and Culture Francis Zammit Dimech, who was also at the launch - which was held at Le Meridien Phoenicia - expects "Pullmantur Cruises to bring over to Malta around 30,000 passengers between June to September".

CHI to operate a five star Corinthia hotel in Algiers

Floriana, 24/01/07 - Corinthia Hotels International (CHI) has just announced that it signed a technical assistance agreement and a hotel management services agreement with Algerian hotel-owning company Lafider for the construction and operation of the Corinthia Hotel - Alger - a five star, de luxe complex to be built in the Algerian capital.

The deal was signed in Algiers on 14 December between CHI chairman Karmenu Vella and Lafider president and general manager Omar Abdelaziz El Aweni.

CHI will be giving its technical assistance and advice in the planning and design of the hotel and will eventually take on the full management of the property once it is fully operational.

The Corinthia Hotel – Alger will have 274 rooms and suites, a business centre and executive floors, a health club with indoor and outdoor pools, a variety of restaurants, a banqueting hall and meeting rooms and “the very latest in conference facilities”. All this will be housed in an elegant glass-fronted tower that will be part of a bigger commercial complex.

Construction work on the complex is scheduled to start during the first half of 2007, with the hotel set to open its doors in 2009.

Suncrest closed for refurbishment

Qawra, 24/01/07 - The four star Suncrest Hotel is closed for soft refurbishment. The 453-room property will reopen on 23 March.

"We have long been promising this project, and works had already started in 2006", says hotel CEO Philippe Lonfat, (see Suncrest changes light bulbs, launches new website).

Although most of the works planned are light, there are several heavy duty ones in the offing, these include the changing of three guest lifts; the installation of a new chiller on the roof to increase cooling capacity along with the changing of all air conditioning piping in shafts; upgrading and extending the hotel's fire and safety system to public areas; adding CCTV cameras in various areas of the property; the kitchens will be receiving new equipment and be generally upgraded; F&B outlets, the lido and the children's pool area are all being spruced up.

A new, top of the range PABX system is being installed and the hotel's computer system is being upgraded to the latest Fidelio Opera system.

In the guest rooms, meantime, works underway include the paining of all rooms; connecting all the sea view rooms and suites to a WiFi system, some 300 rooms; changing bed side lights; adding full length mirrors in all rooms; totally rewiring the hotel's TV system and changing all sets to 21 inch; changing bedroom ceiling fans; adding wall mounted hair dryers with shaving points in all bathrooms along with clotheslines; upgrading mini bars in suites; increasing lighting in all rooms with a new free standing light; putting new rugs in rooms and carpets in suites and replacing carpets from rooms on the sixth floor with floor tiles "to complement all other hotel rooms"; changing all bathtubs, mixers, shower hoods and curtains; changing of bathroom soffits and increasing lighting and replacing some 600 mattresses.

Public areas are also being revamped with new electronic entrance doors and a remodelled reception.

Finally, parquet flooring - which was laid in the main conference hall last summer - will be similarly laid in all syndicate rooms; LCD screens will installed in all meeting and syndicate rooms and a business centre is to be introduced.

Travel agent files judicial letter against MTA

Valletta, 23/01/07 - Inspire Ltd, operators of the ChooseMalta.com website, today filed a judicial letter against the Malta Tourism Authority. The Pieta-based online travel agent says the MTA is competing unfairly with its recently launched Visitmalta.com site.

Inspire is licensed by the MTA to operate as a travel agent, and does so electronically with its ChooseMalta.com site which also incorporates a booking engine.

In its judicial letter Inspire says that the MTA, as the regulator of the tourism industry, should not involve itself in travel agency functions - selling travel and accommodation services.

By setting up a company to operate a website that contains a booking engine, the MTA is acting incorrectly.

Moreover, to operate as a travel agent on the islands one must obtain and pay for a licence from the MTA; consequently, the judicial letter also questions the legality of the authority licensing a company it owns - in this case, Visitmalta Ltd which was set up last month specifically to run its own site (see MTA launches new e-tourism portal).

The judicial letter was signed by lawyer Jean Farrugia, acting on behalf of Inspire Ltd.

Cruise traffic up 27 per cent in 2006

Valletta, 23/01/07 - Cruise passenger traffic decreased by 3,357 in December when compared to the same month in 2005, the National Statistics Office reports. There were 5,277 passengers, down from 8,636 in December 2005.

In December 2006, there was a 38.9 per cent drop in transit passengers, with major drops from Italy, Germany and France.

"Embarkations from and landings in Malta were negligible" in December, the NSO says. In fact, in December 2005 just three people set off on a cruise from Malta, whilst eight did so last month.

Meanwhile, cruise passenger traffic to Malta increased by 27.4 per cent in 2006.

Passenger departures increased by 26.4 per cent, mainly reflecting an increase of 78,137 transit passengers. For the most part, this increase was reflected in passengers from Italy, Germany, Spain, the United States, France and the United Kingdom.

Embarkations from Malta went up by 4,611 during the year. Passenger landings increased by 70.7 per cent during the period under review.

The increase in embarkations was partly reflected in higher landings by Maltese passengers, although landings by persons residing in the United Kingdom rose significantly as well.

The number of cruise liners calling in Malta remained unchanged in December 2006, bringing the total for the year to 356, up by 29 over 2005.

MTA launches new e-tourism portal

Valletta, 19/01/07 - The Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) today launched its long-awaited e-tourism portal. This replaces the highly successful informational site with a "transactional" one.

The new portal - which retains the same URL as the previous site, www.visitmalta.com - provides general information on the islands, "experiences" (aka niche interests) and, most importantly, the ability to book and pay for flights, accommodation and car hire online.

This feature will eventually be extended to include other services such as booking and purchasing tickets for historical sites, museums, buses, the Gozo ferry as well as events.

The new site is intended to be an easy-to-use, one-stop-shop where prospective visitors can plan, book and pay for their entire trip to the islands online.

The site is in English but French, German and Italian versions will be available soon

"The heart of the portal is a database of more than 700 distinct pages of information", reads an MTA press release - 800 pages according to authority CEO David Mifsud.

The portal promotes the islands "as a destination as well as a tourist experience. This is achieved though the use of eight principal experiences, ranging from culture and heritage to diving. Different experiences will be added over time to maintain a dynamic and interactive portal that draws and maintains a steady level of repeat visits".

The site also lists all hotels, travel agents, DMCs, diving schools and car rental companies "free of charge" Island Travel Trader Online was told.

Electronic newspaper Maltastar.com, meanwhile, reports that hoteliers, for instance, are being charged an annual fee of Lm75 "for 24x7 support on transactions and provision of online reports".

And when a "successful booking is concluded" the MTA will charge a six per cent commission plus a 0.5 per cent "gateway charge". This will be payable by the Malta-based company.

Because this is a commercial site, the MTA has set up a company to run and operate the portal. Visitmalta Ltd is wholly owned by the authority and is managed by Michael Piscopo, formerly director of the MTA's London office.

Although the local travel industry applauds the MTA's efforts to use the internet to the country's advantage, there have been grumblings from some travel agents that the government agency is now competing with the private sector.

"The MTA is there to promote tourism to Malta, not to sell. That's our function", a travel agent told Island Travel Trader Online.

Then again, the MTA has no idea just how much business it hopes to drum up this year with its new portal.

No matter the rights or wrongs, the fact is Malta's tourism is in decline and if this new portal helps reverse the situation, then well and good. It's elegant, easy to use and delivers.

Gozo diving master plan unveiled

Victoria, 19/01/07 - The Diving Master Plan for Gozo and Comino, part of the EU co-funded niche tourism project for the island of Gozo, was presented to the island's diving schools during a presentation meeting at the Ministry for Gozo recently.

Speaking during the meeting, Giovanna Debono, minister for Gozo said that the drawing up of the diving master plan was done in a bid to give a "holistic approach to diving as an area with potential growth for the benefit of the tourism industry in Gozo".

The government had identified diving as an area where Gozo could have a competitive advantage and is now committed towards further improving the product on offer. The niche tourism project for the island of Gozo, costing Eur1.3 million, involved the scuttling of two old ferries last August, the setting up of a decompression chamber in December, a marketing campaign in international magazines, a new website, a DVD and the actual master plan.

Debono said that the master plan, carried out in consultation with all the diving schools in Gozo, does not only give an analysis of the product on offer, but also provides a basis for future developments and identifies measures that could be implemented to improve all diving sites around Gozo and Comino for the islands to be able to offer a more upmarket product.

Giovanna Debono announced that now that the master plan has been drawn up, the Ministry for Gozo will set up a task force to follow up on the measures identified and come up with an action plan to carry out short-, medium- and long-term targets.

Recommendations include the upgrading of shore dive sites with appropriate infrastructure, the organisation of parking and kitting-up facilities at sites, the provision of safety equipment and the improvement of facilities to reduce the possibility of accidents, the provision of more wrecks and artificial reefs at selected sites, the provision of secure mooring buoys at boat diving locations, the taking of steps to attract more fish to dive sites, and the organisation of proper data collection to assist in better product-analysis and monitoring.

Air Malta hires new in-flight caterers

Luqa, 14/01/07 - Air Malta has fired the Corinthia Group-owned Flight Catering Company, after it has provided the flag carrier with its in-flight catering needs for the past 30 years.

A new 10-year contract with Airest Malta, which kicks in on 1 April, is expected to "yield visible benefits and a better quality product to Air Malta's customers in terms of catering services on the airline's flights", an airline statement says.

Airest will supply in-flight catering, bar and commissary services. This deal, which integrates four main functions under one contract was, until now, performed by different operators.

Airest will be supplying KM with around 1.5 million meals annually, sourcing, storage and issuance of in-flight equipment, catering items, bar items and dry goods, packing of in-flight items and transportation to and from aircraft at the airport.

This award follows a tender at which three companies competed for the contract. A foreign operator specialising in this line of business partnered each Maltese entry. At the end KM chose Airest Malta Ltd - a joint venture between James Caterers of Fgura and Austria's Airest - which was set up and registered locally purposely to bid for the catering contract.

Commenting on the deal, Wilfred Borg - chief officer subsidiaries who was the project driver for Air Malta - said: "Airest, is Austria's market leader in the airline catering and in-flight service business, with an international clientele including renowned carriers like Austrian Airlines. Air Malta's in-flight catering award closely follows the recent announced expansion of Airest in Ljubljana and Bratislava. Airest Malta, who will be employing approximately 70 employees, have also contractually bound themselves to offer full time employment on an indefinite contract basis to all 27 employees currently employed with Airport Services Ltd, an Air Malta subsidiary, which currently handles the packing of in-flight bar items and dry goods.

This project, which was considered one of major importance to Air Malta, will increase efficiency and will therefore result in a significantly higher level of quality of services to our clients. The efficiencies which we have managed to obtain in streamlining the various process involved should result in significant annual cost reductions for Air Malta", added Borg.

MHRA concerned over lack of business in northern resorts

Sliema, 14/01/07 - The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) recently organised a meeting for its members in Bugibba, Qawra and St Paul's Bay to discuss the business situation after one of the "worst Christmases and winters this locality has experienced".

The MHRA president Josef Formosa Gauci said that the increase registered in arrivals to Malta in November and December was not being felt throughout the country and especially in the Bugibba, Qawra area.

Most of the establishments in these resorts that remained open in winter are registering reduced occupancies when compared to last year, notwithstanding the fact that a number of hotels are not open this season. This situation is also having a very negative effect on restaurants in the locality that have seen their revenues decline sharply. 

Several hoteliers and restaurateurs in the area feel that the authorities are neglecting them. The perennial problems such as lack of cleanliness due to lack of uniform garbage collection, construction sites, open sites used as dumping areas, lack of upkeep of soft areas, lack of maintenance on the promenade, lack of public conveniences, lack of parking facilities and lack of proper signage were raised by those attending the meeting.

Furthermore this year there were no Christmas street decorations and activities held during the festive season with the result that there was no Christmas atmosphere in the area. Had it not been for some hotels that took the initiative and decorated appropriately their immediate surroundings there would have not been any sign at all of Christmas.

The MHRA, whilst acknowledging the improvement resulting from the perched beach, strongly urges the authorities to assist in re-generating these resorts. In the absence of such action, the trend of closing hotels and turning them into real estate developments will continue and possibly accelerate, with the resultant loss in employment and economic activity in the area for these SMEs.