Promoting Malta Abroad doesn't have to cost a fortune
As a foreigner living in Malta, I found Douglas Salt’s comments in the Sunday edition of the Times of Malta (February 28, 2016, classified section) a bit hard to swallow. In “Promoting Malta Abroad,” Salt asserts that it would cost millions and millions of Euros to successfully promote Malta as a retirement and property investment destination, and he cites his company’s longevity and experience as proof of his expertise.
The points that Salt has right include the fact that few people actually know where Malta is. In spite of Winston Churchill’s statement to the contrary, Malta hasn’t been remembered for its heroics in WWII, or any other war for that matter. From this Salt draws the conclusion that any international property promotion needs to highlights Malta itself and it would need to use “different media at different times of the day” regularly – this is also certainly true in as far as it goes.
However, where this claim fails is in its assessment of cost. Things have changed since the 1970s. There is no need for a specific property investment scheme in Malta to go it alone, and there is no need for the advertising campaign to “cost a fortune.” Social media, blogs and an effective use of the Internet can have a huge impact on bringing international awareness to Malta. In fact, the Valletta 2018 initiative and its European Capital of Culture is something that any business interested in bringing tourists to the island can latch onto and use to help promote Malta in general and the business specifically.
Salt laments that the younger generation in Britain is less familiar with Malta. That is probably also true, and it is because Malta has a relatively small presence on social media and in international commerce. Malta has Playmobil’s second largest factory, but that is a German company. Name something else that Malta exports that has international appeal – and I am not sure that actors Joseph Gatt and Marama Corlett count though they are a good start.
Salt ends his editorial with the defeatist attitude of if Property Malta isn’t going to allocate millions of Euros to the effort of promoting Malta, it “might as well do nothing at all.” For a country that has one of the leading thinkers on creativity and a top-notch Creativity and Innovation program in the Edward de Bono Institute, it is sad to see that the Maltese still embrace old solutions to new problems.
Malta isn’t perfect. The traffic is terrible, the public transportation system is still questionable, and there are many seemingly derelict properties in tourist destinations that make the country seem as if its population has abandoned it.
Of course, there will need to be a balance between keeping its history and restoring some of those places, especially in Valletta where the paint is peeling and the upper windows are broken. But Malta has a lot to offer; so much in fact, that a cleverly conducted social media campaign involving the Maltese that are proud to promote their country won’t have to cost a ton of money. Done in the right way, it could become a revenue generator.
The points that Salt has right include the fact that few people actually know where Malta is. In spite of Winston Churchill’s statement to the contrary, Malta hasn’t been remembered for its heroics in WWII, or any other war for that matter. From this Salt draws the conclusion that any international property promotion needs to highlights Malta itself and it would need to use “different media at different times of the day” regularly – this is also certainly true in as far as it goes.
However, where this claim fails is in its assessment of cost. Things have changed since the 1970s. There is no need for a specific property investment scheme in Malta to go it alone, and there is no need for the advertising campaign to “cost a fortune.” Social media, blogs and an effective use of the Internet can have a huge impact on bringing international awareness to Malta. In fact, the Valletta 2018 initiative and its European Capital of Culture is something that any business interested in bringing tourists to the island can latch onto and use to help promote Malta in general and the business specifically.
Salt laments that the younger generation in Britain is less familiar with Malta. That is probably also true, and it is because Malta has a relatively small presence on social media and in international commerce. Malta has Playmobil’s second largest factory, but that is a German company. Name something else that Malta exports that has international appeal – and I am not sure that actors Joseph Gatt and Marama Corlett count though they are a good start.
Salt ends his editorial with the defeatist attitude of if Property Malta isn’t going to allocate millions of Euros to the effort of promoting Malta, it “might as well do nothing at all.” For a country that has one of the leading thinkers on creativity and a top-notch Creativity and Innovation program in the Edward de Bono Institute, it is sad to see that the Maltese still embrace old solutions to new problems.
Malta isn’t perfect. The traffic is terrible, the public transportation system is still questionable, and there are many seemingly derelict properties in tourist destinations that make the country seem as if its population has abandoned it.
Of course, there will need to be a balance between keeping its history and restoring some of those places, especially in Valletta where the paint is peeling and the upper windows are broken. But Malta has a lot to offer; so much in fact, that a cleverly conducted social media campaign involving the Maltese that are proud to promote their country won’t have to cost a ton of money. Done in the right way, it could become a revenue generator.