ECONOMIC VISION 2016: BUSINESS. FINANCE. ECONOMY.
“Allow me to give your question a slightly different slant,” says Alfred Pisani, Chairman of Corinthia Group, when asked to identify the missing link between Malta’s burgeoning tourism industry and its lacklustre infrastructure. “I think our infrastructure needs to move forward and achieve European standards independent of tourism or business growth. We should raise the quality of life not for the visitor, but primarily for those of us who are living here for 12 months of the year.”
Mr Pisani’s claim, which comes in the wake of an overall positive assessment of Malta’s economy at large in this year’s Budget speech, places the Maltese, and not the visitor, at the centre of it all. It also places the responsibility for an overall improved infrastructure squarely on our shoulders. “We need to re-focus and see where our infrastructure stands – it needs a tremendous amount of attention, primarily for our own need, and if we believe in ourselves and aim to improve it, this will also be seen by visitors.” There are numerous related issues begging to be addressed – among them, inadequate roads and a general lack of cleanliness, as well as discernible wiring systems and the erection of billboards anywhere and everywhere. Mr Pisani asserts that, if in the quest for more development, more industry and more tourism we endeavour to improve the islands’ appearance concurrently, we will be heading in the right direction, and enticing visitors to keep coming back.
The crux of his argument, however, is to aim to achieve all this for ourselves as nationals first and foremost. “I don’t want to do all this for visitors so that it affects me – I want to do it in reverse. It is a pity that we talk of improving our infrastructure for the outsider.” I ask whether this stems from our tendency as a small island nation to revere the opinion of, and seek to please the foreigner more than the local – Mr Pisani does not disagree, but adds “we should be conscious that we should be living in a better, cleaner and more conducive environment for us, and let the visitor share it with us, not the other way round.” One of the company’s most ambitious projects to date – the six-star hotel which will take over the site currently occupied by the San Gorg Corinthia, the Corinthia Marina and the Radisson Blu hotels in St Julian’s – ties into Mr Pisani’s belief that the country needs to elevate its standards across the board. The Group is investing a staggering ¤400 million and more in its development. Is Malta ready 91