Archive.May07

Qawra, 29/05/07 – The Malta Tourism Authority’s 2007 annual conference, held today at the Dolmen Resort Hotel, will be remembered for one thing only – CEO David Mifsud’s comment that Malta “will hopefully” show a seven per cent increase in tourist arrivals this year. “This is not impossible to achieve”, he added.

Considering that in 2006 - described as “one of our worst years” by Mifsud in the authority’s annual report - 1,124,233 people visited the islands, a seven point increase translates to just 78,696 more tourists this year.

Not very impressive when one considers that in 2006 there were 47,110 fewer tourists than 2005’s 1,171,343. And that last year’s arrivals figure was the lowest this century. A seven per cent increase will mean 1,202,929 visitors in 2007.

Meantime, this year there will be an increase of 18 per cent in aircraft capacity operating to Malta.

Meaning that, even with a seven point arrivals increase, 11 per cent of aircraft flying to Malta will be empty. And as Air Malta chief executive Joe Cappello told the conference “airlines look at profitability”, and overcapacity eventually means cutbacks in operations.

Valletta, 28/05/07 - Low cost Irish carrier Ryanair will be operating to Malta from Bari and Stockholm as from the end of October, says Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech.

Flights from Bremen will start on 25 September whilst those from Girona, Bari and Nykoping will start on 30 October.

Zammit Dimech said that with these new points of origin Ryanair will be operating a total of seven routes "bringing to Malta about 160,000 passengers in a year".

Zammit Dimech said that five other low cost carriers were operating to and from Malta. He said that in a whole year these carriers "are bound to carry about 240,000 passengers, which is an important component of all our tourism arrivals".

St Julian's, 28/05/07 - By year's end the Malta Tourism Authority will have a collection of some 9,000 photographs of the islands to do as it pleases, and all for virtually nothing.

In April the MTA's Robert Zammit along with the top brass from Italian PR and advertising agency The Gate Comunicazione came up with a 'win-win' idea that will publicise the islands and promote Nikon products.

The idea was simple - send photographers to Malta and let them shoot the islands, then choose the best shots and use them as adverts for both Nikon and Malta.

The deal involves 27 European photographers, all members of the Nikon international academy, to travel to Malta on a Wednesday and shoot the islands as they wish until Sunday. The MTA supplies them air and land transportation and accommodation here, Nikon Italia pays them for their services. Final price tag for the project, dubbed 'shooting Malta' is €3.4 million.

The photographers, brought over in three waves - the first group arrived on 3 May and the second last week - have carte blanche on what to photograph. However, the principal theme is 'elements that make Malta and Gozo intriguing'.

Of the expected 9,000 images - that will become the property of the MTA - 56 will be selected for a roving exhibition in European cities from September.

Meanwhile, Nikon Italia will launch its advertising campaign on 6 June with the distribution of three million flyers in the Italian press. A billboard campaign will then follow along with posters that will also promote Malta on metros and buses throughout Italy.

Valletta, 28/05/07 - In April Malta hosted 37,787 cruise passengers, an increase of 605 over the same month in 2006 the National Statistics Office reports. Embarkations from and landings in Malta in April stood at 575 and 559 respectively.

Although there was an increase of 1.6 per cent in the number of passengers last month, nine fewer liners called at the Grand Harbour compared to April 2006.

Total cruise passenger traffic in the first four months of the year amounted to 57,666, an increase of 1.7 per cent over the same period last year. Excursionists from EU-member states accounted for 90.9 per cent of the total traffic; the main markets being Germany, France and Italy.

On a gender basis, total traffic was almost on a par. The largest proportion of passengers - 35.8 per cent - comprised persons aged between 60 and 79, followed by those in the 40 to 59 age bracket who accounted for 32.2 per cent of the total.

In the first four months of the year 50 cruise liners called here, compared to 63 in the corresponding period of 2006.

Luqa, 28/05/07 - This is going to be a busy summer for Air Malta. The flag carrier will be operating to 46 scheduled destinations with 200 flights a week. KM will operate a fleet of 12 aircraft based in Malta, one more than last summer, and three aircraft from its UK bases.

"This summer will be an exciting season for Air Malta and its customers", says Joe Cappello, chief executive officer. "We have increased the number of destinations and frequencies over last summer. We will be operating to three new destinations - Liverpool, Venice and Benghazi - and increasing services to Munich, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Birmingham, Stansted and Rome. The airline will also be expanding its intra-European operations with a new service between Catania and Munich as well as Catania and Geneva. In the peak summer months, Air Malta will also be operating a weekly flight between Reggio Calabria and Barcelona in July, August and September. Furthermore Air Malta will be the first airline to operate between Italy and Morocco".

At the end of March the airline increased its capacity on the German market by 27 per cent over last summer. Munich is being served with an additional weekly service, increasing to eight frequencies a week. Air Malta has also managed to obtain more slots at Frankfurt, Germany's busiest international airport, and is now offering two additional weekly flights there. This will increase the number of Malta-Frankfurt weekly flights to seven. Two additional weekly services will be introduced on the Düsseldorf route with the airline now operating five services a week. There is also a capacity increase on the Berlin route where Air Malta will be operating three weekly flights.

The capacity floated on the British market is increasing by five per cent. Air Malta is upping its services to Birmingham to three weekly flights, operating on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. A new frequency will be introduced on the Stansted route whereby KM will operate three weekly flights, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. The Liverpool route is Air Malta's newest addition to its UK destination portfolio with the airline now offering a total of 10 airports from the UK. Liverpool, introduced on 4 May, is being serviced with two weekly flights on Mondays and Fridays.

The Italian market will experience a capacity increase of 39 per cent, with the Italian capital now being served with three daily flights, two of which are non-stop to Rome. This means that the capacity on the Rome route is now increasing by 52 per cent. Venice is another new route this summer, whereby Air Malta is operating two weekly flights on Mondays and Fridays - like the Liverpool frequency, Venice came into service on 4 May. For the second consecutive summer, KM will be operating a direct service between Malta and Naples and will be operating two weekly flights on Mondays and Thursdays.

As from June, Air Malta will reintroduce services to Benghazi. These will be operated on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The capacity expansion from Malta "is coupled with another interesting expansion of the intra-European network".

Air Malta will be introducing a new three times a week service between Catania and Munich and between Catania and Geneva. The Catania-Munich service will also be code-shared with Lufthansa.

Other new additions are a weekly service between Catania and Casablanca and a weekly service in July and August between Reggio Calabria and Barcelona.

The code-share agreement signed with Lufthansa last November allows both carriers to offer three daily non-stop flights to Frankfurt and Munich, with connectivity to all German regional airports and offline European, American and Asian airports. As from summer the code-share agreement - which initially was solely operative on the direct Malta-Frankfurt and Malta-Munich routes - will be extended to all German regional routes and on the non-stop daily services from Munich to the New York's JFK and Washington Dulles. "All these developments are increasing extensively the accessibility to the Maltese islands from major European and international gateways" says Cappello.

Over summer, Air Malta will be operating with a fleet of 15 aircraft: five Airbus A319s, eight Airbus A320s and two Boeing B737-300s. Three of the A320s are based at the airline's UK bases - Birmingham and Bristol.

"This summer should prove to be another exciting time for passengers travelling on Air Malta's scheduled network. With an enhanced schedule of flights, new destinations and lower prices Air Malta is making sure it remains the airline offering innovative choices to customers looking for good quality-value for money deals. Its offers in foreign markets are equally attractive thus making the island more affordable and more popular", explains CEO Cappello.

Mosta, 17/05/07 - Irish carrier Ryanair, and self-billed as "Spain's largest low fares airline" has announced nine new routes to be operated from Girona - 100kms from Barcelona - one of which is to Malta. These new frequencies will start in October when Ryanair increases its Girona based aircraft from seven to nine.

The Malta route will operate three times a week from 30 October. Flights will leave Girona at 06:45 for a 09:05 arrival at MIA. The return service will leave at 09:30 with an ETA of 12:00 in Girona. Ryanair expects to carry 40,000 passengers in the first 12 months of operating this route.

Meantime, Spanish-owned low cost carrier clickair will be operating twice-weekly frequencies from Barcelona's El Prat airport to Malta from 7 June.

Valletta, 16/04/07 - The Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) has just presented a report to owners and mangers of two and three star properties, following a study of that sector by tourism consultant George Micallef - himself the managing director of a four star hotel. The study - appropriately titled An assessment of two and three star accommodation in Malta - was commissioned by the MTA.

The purpose of the study was to identify and list the issues affecting two and three star hotels, to provide recommendations for consideration by the Ministry for Tourism and Culture, the MTA, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association and other stakeholders and "to identify actions which can be immediately implemented whilst making other recommendations that may be applied in the medium- and long-term".

The study was based on a "thorough evaluation of events shaping the current situation prevailing in the Maltese accommodation sector; the application of the impact of international trends on accommodation demand in Malta and the results emerging from a number of different surveys of both tourism supply and demand carried out during April 2007".

The study recommends that discussions be held among stakeholders "to add further suggestions for consideration...on the basis of which a set of actions will be drawn".

The report also suggests that the Ministry for Tourism and Culture and the MTA "appoint individuals or teams to draw precise schemes for implementation within a short pre-established timeframe, starting from those that can be actioned immediately or in the short term".

The upshot is that this assessment recommends the appointment of more experts to tell two and three star hoteliers what they already know.

Mosta, 16/05/07 - When you spot a price of €9.99 for a fare that includes "taxes, fees and charges" repeated twice, you'd like to believe it. Don't!!

Low cost airline Ryanair is advertising a one-way ticket from Malta to Luton for €9.99 and "fares include taxes, fees and charges" - we're repeating it as well.

Naturally, when you click to book this amazing offer for a randomly chosen trip from 1 to 7 June, reality kicks in.

The price of the outbound leg skyrocketed to €109.99, although the return journey is still price tagged at €9.99. However, these fares do not include "taxes, fees and charges", and they are not optional extras.

For the Malta-Luton sector add €23.30 government tax, add €2.19 airport taxes, add €15.84 passenger service charge and add €5.79 for "ins and whch levy" - presumably insurance and something else. Total equals €47.12 to add to the €109.99 fare.

Coming back to Malta is slightly cheaper; tax is 'only' €15.23 from the UK whilst the passenger service charge is heftier at €17.06. Also add €5.79 for the quaint acronym "ins and wchr levy". All this adds up to €38.08 for taxes, fees and charges. Of course, there is the €9.99 fare to include.

Total price fare, with all the extras comes to €205.18. Presumably a passenger will be also carrying luggage for his week's stay in the UK; that's an additional €12 for one suitcase weighing in at no more than 15kilos.

And since the only way to book a Ryanair flight from Malta is online, and this must be paid for by credit card, the Irish carrier charges between £2 to £3 - or the local currency equivalent - "to defray the substantial administration costs" incurred when processing credit card payments. This handling fee "applies to each passenger per flight segment". Therefore, a two-way ticket incurs between £4 to £6 in handling fees.

The upshot is that the €9.99 fare will really cost €217.18 plus credit card handling fees.

Mosta, 16/05/07 - Malta's own low cost carrier, BritishJet, intends operating flights from the United Kingdom to Egypt via Malta this winter.

Airline owner Robert Borg says he wants to offer two-point holidays to Malta and Sharm el-Shaikh from the UK as from November.

Valletta, 14/05/07 - In March 19,333 Malta residents traveled abroad, an increase of 13 per cent over March 2006. Most, 92.3 per cent, went to EU-member states with Italy and the United Kingdom being the most popular destinations.

In Q1, meanwhile, 46,683 residents traveled, a hike of 10.6 points over the first three months of last year, the National Statistics Office reports.