Issue No. 26 - 2010
The Executive
Tourism Policy: Developments in the EU and Malta
tactical actions stated in the plan must mirror the vision set out in the policy document and other national documents.
Financial Instruments Maltese authorities are entrusted to administer the financial resources, partly cofinanced by the European Union. Focusing on one particular scheme which falls under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as an example of such resources, the case study used in this section will be the Grant Scheme for Tourism Enterprises run by the Malta Tourism Authority. The scheme was launched in August 2004 under the Structural Funds Programme for Malta 2004-2006. Back then, the total project value for the scheme stood at €2,488,647, of which 60% were pooled in by the public sector (35% from the European Regional Development Fund and 25% Malta Government Funds), with the remaining funds being invested by the private sector. It is of interest to note that over 90% of the funds were utilised.
European Destinations of Excellence Malta is one of the 27 member states who, every year, participates in the EDEN framework. It is in fact administered by the Tourism and Sustainable Development Unit, which is the Unit that acts as the EU directorate for the Malta Tourism Authority. The main function of this unit is “dealing with policy and EU matters relating to the environment, tourism and sustainable development”.
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Two further calls were issued, in February
2009 and October 2009 respectively with a third, and possibly final, call to be issued in October 2010. A grant scheme of € 10 million was allocated for these projects, which aimed at enterprises investing in sustainable tourism projects meant to “strengthen Malta’s competitive advantage in tourism, increase the use of ICT for tourism; increase good environmental practices by tourism enterprises as well as increase innovation in tourism,” (TSDU website).
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