12% decrease in arrivals from British market next winter

by Franco Aloisio

The downward trend in tourist arrivals from Britain will persist this coming winter, with a 12 per cent decrease expected for the shoulder and low season months, sources in the tourism industry said yesterday.

This decrease comes despite a major and intensive advertising campaign in the UK earlier this year which targeted the primary tourist catchment areas. That campaign, organised by the Malta Tourism Authority, was the first television campaign for Malta since 1996 and was supplemented by advertising on the British print media.

The sources said the decrease is being further exacerbated by the developments concerning international tour operator companies, whereby various operator companies were taken over by others. This was the case with Thomson and Frosch which were taken over by the Preussag Group and by AirTours respectively.

British tourist arrivals have been on the decrease over the past few years. This summer, arrivals from the British market were on the same level as last year. However, the figures for summer 1999 were a far cry from previous years.

Meanwhile, the Malta Tourism Authority yesterday said it was launching a Lm350,000 advertising campaign in its major European source markets as of September. The autumn campaign will be targeting the travel trade and consumers in Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, France and Italy.

In total, the MTA will be spending more than Lm1m in advertising in 2000. "The aim of this promotional drive is to boost interest in the Maltese islands and generate additional visitor inflows in the autumn and winter months," the MTA said.

This advertising campaign will build upon the exposure already obtained in the first half of this year through similar initiatives undertaken by the authority in several countries. The MTA autumn advertising campaign will start in September. In Germany, this will include press advertising in four national and 14 regional newspapers, as well as advertising on trams. In France, the campaign will include poster advertising on buses in Lyon, in support of Air Malta's flights from the region.

The advertising in Italy will be featured on glossy lifestyle magazines such as Gente, Gioia and GenteViaggi. MTA will also carry out advertising in trade press and selected publications promoting conference and incentive travel.