MINISTER FOR TOURISM PRESENTS CERTIFICATES TO PERSONS WHO HAVE SUCCESSFULLY FOLLOWED AN INTENSIVE COURSE IN GUIDING

Minister Refalo announces that second quarter COS data shows increased earnings from tourism.

New tourist guides urged to report on organisational, environmental and infrastructural problems.

Interministerial committee on tourism discusses problems.

Minister for Tourism Michael Refalo today presented certificates to 27 successful candidates who attended an intensive seven month course in guiding. Following a call for applications issued by the Department of Tourism, 40 candidates were selected. The course, organised by the Tourism Ministry in conjunction with the University of Malta, commenced in October 1999. Lectures were held three times a week including a field session every Saturday morning.

The course was offered to persons interested in guiding in languages other than English, French, Italian and German for which languages two year courses are offered at the Institute for Tourism Studies. The new guides will be able to conduct tours in Japanese (1), Hungarian (2), Norwegian (1), Swedish (2), Finnish (1), Dutch (9), Portuguese (2), Spanish (3), Russian (5), and Czech (1).

These newly licensed guides are mostly foreign born and are either married to Maltese citizens or have made their home in Malta.

Minister Refalo reminded the new guides that tourism represented a major foreign exchange earner for Malta and accounted for between Lm275 to Lm300 million liri.

"Most of you have made your home in Malta and that fact alone makes you stakeholders in ensuring a good future for Malta's tourist industry. LM300 million is a lot of money and my job, your job and that of each and every one involved in Malta's largest industry is to make sure that we continue to earn that sort of money and much, much more."

"I am pleased to announce that COS data which will be published shortly shows that per visitor capita spend and total income from tourism for the second quarter of 2000 even when compared to record 1999 results are on the increase."

"That money is ploughed into Malta's economy and more than 20% of that represents government revenue which in turn spreads the benefits accruing from tourism to the general good of the Maltese population as a whole."

"Guiding is not just the reeling off of dates, anecdotes and historical information. You have been trained, and your living in Malta among Maltese certainly helps, to reflect Maltese way of life, traditions, customs, heritage and put across the aspirations and hopes of Maltese society to visitors from countries where you were born."

The Minister reminded the new guides that their guiding duties did not stop at the conclusion of a tour. "You will be travelling around Malta and Gozo more than anybody else and I urge you to keep this Ministry informed, even under confidential cover if you so wish, of the problems which you meet in the course of your work, whether they are of an organisational, environmental, infrastructural or any other nature. On our part we will do our best to see that remedial and corrective action is taken to ensure the greater satisfaction and comfort of our visitors and Maltese alike."

In conclusion Minister Refalo after wishing the new guides success said that the interest shown by them in joining a new profession underlined their faith in tourism and tangibly reflected the success achieved in diversifying of tourism flows to the Maltese Islands.