“Initiatives like the ‘MERHBA’ programme can assist us to develop Malta further into a globally competitive service economy and destination of choice. Value for money is extremely important in terms of attracting visitors and even more so in ensuring that they return to Malta for repeat visits, which at present account to almost one third of our tourists. Customer satisfaction adds on to this value and is therefore, not something we can compromise on.”

This was stated by the Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, Mario de Marco when he was opening a half-day conference entitled “Engaging your people in Service Excellence” organised by the Malta Tourism Authority’s Industry Human Resources Development Unit, as part of the ‘MERHBA’ programme.

He said that government has identified seven sectors for development which will give the Maltese islands a comparative advantage by 2015; ranging from education to health and tourism. Within this context, he added, this conference could not have been more apt and in sync with the country’s ambitions.

“Given the current challenges being faced by the tourism industry, there could not have been a better timing to discuss the quality of service being offered by the soft-side of our product, i.e. the people. There is no better time to look within us and see what is lacking, what needs strengthening and what needs to be reformed.”

Dr de Marco referred to the three pillars of tourism: accessibility, marketing and product, with the latter highly dependant on the people who are on the ground servicing the industry. It was because of this importance that government, over the years, has invested heavily in the Institute for Tourism Studies, the University’s Department for Tourism as well as the MTA’s own unit for HR development in the industry.

He referred to the ‘MERHBA’ programme which so far has trained over 1,750 key tourism personnel by utilising €613,000 EU funds. This programme was built on two successful Leonardo Mobility Projects and following their success, the MTA was granted more funding to develop a Trainers’ Resource Pack for the ‘MERHBA’ Programme. The resource pack was developed in order to serve as a training aid for managers of tourism establishments and tourism-related support services to train their staff.

“A recent independent study of the mentioned projects provides a clear indication of the impact of these projects, with a 97% satisfaction rate of the participants and 83% of the participants claimed that the programme had a positive impact on their career by acquiring new skills, personal development and assisting them to approach, treat and communicate with tourists better,” he added.

Dr de Marco concluded by saying that ’service excellence’ is key to a positive visitor experience and a world-class/top-notch experience is what we want to offer tourists visiting Malta.