MINISTER MICHAEL REFALO MEETS MILLIONTH TOURIST TO MALTA HOSTED BY MALTESE TOUR OPERATOR

MINISTER MICHAEL REFALO MEETS MILLIONTH TOURIST TO MALTA HOSTED BY MALTESE TOUR OPERATOR

RAS Chairman Robert Arrigo accompanied by Mr. A. Van Plateringen from Holland, the millionth visitor which RAS has succeeded in bringing to Malta, this afternoon called on Minister for Tourism Dr. Michael Refalo. When introducing Mr. Van Plateringen to the Minister, Mr. Arrigo said that his company's client was a repeat visitor to the island having previously holidayed in Malta several times.

Mr. Arrigo recalled that in 1984, when he first went into business on his own, tourism was going through a slump and, rather than going for the then traditional UK market where competition was fierce, he had looked for and found his own specialised niche targeting other markets, mainly France and the Benelux. "Malta was then still far off from hosting her millionth visitor annually and I had little thought that my small company would ever achieve that volume."

Minister Refalo welcomed Mr. Van Plateringen and congratulated Mr. Arrigo personally and also as the representative of his company's employees collective effort for the success achieved by the company and for Malta's tourism industry.

"Today", said the Minister, "RAS are a vertically integrated organisation which owns and manages hotels, runs one of Malta's largest incoming tour-operating companies and deals with a wide range of special interest tourism activities."

Minister Refalo added that RAS are local agents for many French tour-operators, among which Nouvelles Frontiere, (NF) and that Mr. Arrigo had been most helpful during the Minister's meeting with NF Chairman Jacques Maillot when negotiations commenced for basing an NF cruise ship in Valletta harbour, a hubbing exercise scheduled to begin this summer.

"This first quarter, especially due to reluctance to travel over the New Year period and the lateness of Easter could possibly be down on last year's totals for the same months. However the Benelux markets led by Hotelplan, Holland's number one operator to Malta who had looked after Mr. Van Plateringen's holiday, had made an encouraging start. I have every hope that MTA's additional investment in publicity and promotion to capture a larger share of the British market will give Malta and Gozo the desired returns".

Minister Refalo presented Mr. Van Plateringen with a book on Valletta and together with journalists who attended the occasion toasted RAS success.