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| Mario de Marco: he had to loosen his tie |
The political heat of the moment (no reference to that awful rock song) is causing the radar of public opinion to malfunction. As the country sits in the Strangers' Gallery with popcorn in hand, very important news is sailing by unnoticed.
Since February, as the international media was
announcing that Gaddafi's missiles had Italy within their range, Malta's
tourism industry risked total collapse. In a world of last minute bookings, cheap travel and internet ticket purchases, switching destinations is as instantaneous as it can be economically deadly. As Libyan rebels won their war, we could easily have lost ours in the cut throat global tourism market
Yet as Mario de Demarco, the Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, announced yesterday what happened was the opposite. The number of tourists arriving since January increased by 70,000 and the spend by €81 million. Last month alone, over a third of a million passengers went through our airport, an all time record.
More cruise liner passengers arrived so far this year than in all of the last one, leaving an additional €30 million in the economy.
Looking back, given that 2007, 2008 and 2010 were record years, there must be something being done right in this sector.
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