INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY H.E. PROF. GUIDO DE MARCO, PRESIDENT OF MALTA, ON THE OCCASION OF THE 61ST SK? INTERNATIONAL WORLD CONGRESS 2000, AT THE MEDITERRANEAN CONFERENCE CENTRE, VALLETTA ? 28TH NOVEMBER, 2000

I welcome you all to Malta to the 61^st Sk'�l International World Congress 2000, in this historic premises and former seat of the largest hospital in Europe, built by the Order of the Knights of St. John.

We are here surrounded and imbued with history. It is a history that lives in the magnificent architecture and fortifications of Valletta and the Three Cities and in that of various other towns and villages across the Maltese Islands, built at the time of the Knights. There is a presence that has had a lasting impact on our Islands.

For those looking for substrata of antiquity, located in Malta and Gozo are the first free-standing stone structures in the world, temples pre-dating 3,500 B.C. Since the dawn of time, dwellers here recognised a particular spirituality inherent to these Islands and this surrounding Sea. For the Mediterranean is a sea that fills us with awe, with inspiration, with spirituality. Through the ages, the Mediterranean acted as a network of trading routes and exchanges, of active engagements between peoples hailing from different parts of its littoral. Their work, our ancestors' labour, has forged the dense linkage that makes up this Mediterranean world.

Since antiquity, waves of conquerors overran these Islands leaving their mark on the landscape and on the structures of society. These Islands witnessed the long and colossal struggle between Rome and Carthage, the shipwreck of St Paul bringing Christianity to these shores, only twenty-seven years after the Crucifixion, and the coming of the Arabs that has left its mark in the basic grammar of our language. Further to the subsequent arrival of the Normans, there has been an accentuated relationship built on the cultural affinity and geographical proximity with the Italian peninsula and Europe in general. Malta saw the presence of the Order of St John, a bond of Knights dedicated to religion, rich in culture, cosmopolitan in outlook. Napoleon and Nelson valued the strategic domination of the Mediterranean through Malta. The heroic resistence of Malta during the Second World War was a determining factor in the outcome of the conflict in the Mediterranean.

The overall impression you will get throughout your stay in Malta is a melange of Mediterranean and European culture, a vivid expression of which we find in current economic and political debates. This is our identity, rooted in the values of our forefathers, in our belief and endeavours for the cause of peace and stability in the Euro-Mediterranean region and beyond. My Government seeks to pursue this course of action, a consistent contribution for peace in our region.

Since Independence thirty-six years ago, tourism in Malta has developed into a fully-fledged industry and a main pillar of the country's economy. Malta is a nation that has managed to mould the important tourism industry into its social and economic structures. I believe that Malta has a lot to offer to the foreign visitor, be it his search for a sunny and relaxed environment, be it his appetite for learning about events that shaped our region, be it a hospitable and friendly environment.

Along the years, both Government and the private sectors have learnt through experience, also through mistakes, that we have to balance development and tourism with environmental protection. This has resulted in a renewed search for a sustainable development of all factors that revolve around the travel and trade industry.

The private sector carries a particular responsibility. The exploitation of the tourist is the worst disservice to the industry; it harms the correct development of the common interest; it affects negatively the nard work put by many professionals in travel and tourism; it prejudices the good name of a country.

As travel and tourism professionals, you seek to pave the way for and direct your clients – the tourists – to visit and enjoy in the best possible manner the places of their choice and preference. Your line of business demands that you keep at the cutting edge of developments and opportunities. Opportunities arise from searching and finding positive solutions for ever-present challenges, multifaceted challenges that have to be tackled in a positive pragmatic manner.

We travel for business, for necessity, or for pleasure. However, being a tourist often means tasting the smell or smelling the taste of a place and its people and appreciating the immediacy and impact of seeing and experiencing events at first hand. I believe that a worthwhile holiday has to combine time for relaxation, a break from routine, but also time for learning and increasing one's baggage of culture and experience. Our life is, first and foremost, a journey of learning and exploration. Travelling is one of the best sources for this kind of formation.

I understand that Sk'�l International seeks to establish links of a more permanent nature among members by developing a network of experience and knowledge among the approximately 23,000 members from over eighty-three countries worldwide. It is a process of forming bonds of friendship which develop and consolidate business links.

The structures of Sk'�l International gives members the opportunity to find common ground, to promote networking based on professionalism, to address their common interests and concerns for the promotion of mutual understanding and solidarity among members. The effect of such interaction is truly worthwhile for the travel and tourist industries and it reflects itself positively in the communities where your members are present.

I wonder whether Florimond Volckaert and his fellow travel trade managers who founded the first Sk'�l Club in Paris over two thirds of a century ago would have ever imagined the extent of the development of this organisation into a comprehensive and wide-ranging entity. It is a comprehensiveness both of substance and of purpose.

"The basis of tourism is international relations." This is stated in the Mission and Principles of the Sk'�l Movement. Tourism, with all its corollary economic benefits, relies and thrives to a large extent in an environment of peace and stability. This applies both to national and international contexts.

My country has worked tirelessly to achieve international consensus and stability, especially in the Euro-Mediterranean region. On a political level, both in bilateral and multilateral contexts, Malta has always pursued coherent policies aimed at achieving this goal. We all appreciate the effort and positive outcomes of such policies.

Tourism is a popular force that transcends boundaries and frontiers. Tourism offers stimuli for improving the state of the environment and infra-structural networks. Tourism presents both challenges and opportunities for Governments and business sectors alike. Certainly I find that the most exciting part of your activity is the establishment of links among peoples from different cultural backgrounds. Your activity lies at the foundation of establishing a ‘people to people' approach, that of building a partnership of tolerance and understanding among peoples.

May I conclude these few words by encouraging you to continue offering a better quality of service to your clients whilst also encouraging them to seek out a deeper meaning in their travels, by understanding the cultures of others.

You form part of that process, of this journey of knowledge, which will result in a more meaningful understanding among peoples.