WATCH | Andrew Agius Muscat: ‘Quality and quantity tourism can co-exist’

The tourism season is inching its way towards the peak as the perennial debate on quality versus quantity continues. But for Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) CEO Andrew Agius Muscat, the two can cohabitate.

Quality and quantity can sit side by side as long as there is good management and discipline, he tells me as we sit down for this interview days after videos showed young tourists smashing bottles on the streets in Swieqi.

The incident reignited the debate on whether tourism levels have peaked in Malta, and whether the sector is slowly becoming a liability for communities.

Agius Muscat agrees the industry is at a crossroads. He says people must be under no illusion that numbers are not needed, warning against confusing quality with luxury.

“When you speak about quality, you could have tourists who book a three-star, four-star hotel. We need a little bit of everything. Let’s not delude ourselves–we need the basic numbers. Forget going back to a million tourists from four million tourists simply because that one million will spend more,” he says.

To address concerns felt by communities in tourism hotspots, Agius Muscat says Paceville’s town-centre management committee has worked, and is proposing replicating the model at national level. If implemented correctly, he argues, it would benefit both residents living in the area, as well as raise the touristic product offered by Malta.

While stating he does not believe Malta has become a “party island”, the hotel lobby CEO says measures like setting a curfew on the sale of alcohol, would help in curbing unruly behaviour in the early hours of morning.

On calls for a moratorium on new hotel and accommodation developments, Agius Muscat says enforcement would be a better route to pursue.

The following is an excerpt of the interview.

We speak on quality over quantity. Politicians talk about it, people talk about it, organisations like yourselves speak about it. The consensus seems to be there, but the numbers hint otherwise: More than 5,000 hotel and guesthouse rooms were approved in less than two years, with figures not including pending applications; and in 2025 we reached four million tourists. Are these figures showing a drive towards quality?

One has to see these developments in their context. The tourism industry in Malta is still “young”, having lifted off in the 1960s. In the 1970s we saw the introduction of hotels in the country, and the launch of the national airline shortly after.

At the time numbers were important, but over the past decades a number of opportunities were created. If we had to compare to neighbouring countries, I think Malta is a case of best practice.

Obviously, today we find ourselves at a crossroads, and have to now pick the opportunities that best suit us. Yes, the numbers are what they are. This is not an issue we have taken note of today, having commissioned a Deloitte study around four years ago to take a snap shot of the situation. The findings were clear–to continue growing, the impact will be felt by infrastructure and communities. These are issues we care about. If, when you are selling Malta to tourists, you offer them a nice hotel, but the surroundings are not up to standard, you lose what you tried building.

We also hold close to our hearts the community. If the community is negatively impacted by tourism, something wrong is going on.

This negative impact you speak about is being felt by the Swieqi community. Yes, the authorities descended on the place and took legal action, but what is wrong there?

I think Swieqi has its unique issues, but every tourism zone—practically the whole country—has its own problems to deal with. Swieqi together with Valletta has been chosen as a pilot destination to see how we can deal with these issues.

If one focuses on Swieqi, the issues of concern come from the fact it is part of the Paceville area. Automatically the flow of activity in Paceville spills over onto Swieqi. We are in discussions with the council and authorities, and we have pushed for the implementation of destination management strategies.

Paceville has the town-centre management committee. It is a structure that performs well and brings together different ministries. Something that is almost unique to tourism is that it overlaps ministerial work, and those who are familiar with government work know about inter-ministerial agreements.

We are saying this has worked, and so let’s make it a national strategy so that both tourists and the community do not suffer at the hands of those who have ulterior motives.

There was a time, and I don’t know whether we are still in that period, when Maltese people used to hold tourists in very high regard. But are we at a tipping point? Has tourism become a nuisance?

It depends on the perspective. Today the numbers have grown. Maltese people I feel still appreciate the tourists which come to the country, but society has also changed.

Today, in the private sector we find a number of foreigners who work in the sector, and god forbid we didn’t have them as there aren’t enough workers. We also need the right kind of foreign workers—the productive ones.

Foreign workers remain a big talking point at a political level. But as a country, are we giving Maltese workers, who wish to enter the catering sector enough opportunities? Is the ITS creating a good enough work force?

I think the ITS is not only creating opportunities for Malta, but foreign institutions are looking at it as a standard for good practice. It [ITS] is also collaborating with other educational institutions, and this is good as it helps attract talent to the country.

But it is an established fact there are not enough Maltese people to run the sector. We can continue debating, but the numbers are what they are. I must also point out Malta is not the only country with this problem. When you speak to people from other European countries especially, they speak on how they also have this reality.

And do we need more foreign workers?

I think if you had to choose three issues our members always speak about is workers. They always need more workers. But it’s not just about numbers, it’s about the quality of the worker, and that is where I feel we should be helping more our members so they can choose the right source markets.

In the same way we have members who speak on the need for more workers, we have members who tell us they have found a formula to not only recruit, but retain. That is where we should be directing our investment.

Let me go back to the quality versus quantity argument. When we speak about a quality tourist, who are we talking about? Is someone who books the best hotel but stays there for his whole trip a quality tourist? And on the flip side, is a young person who comes to party, but spends their money at the most expensive places in Malta a quality tourist?

We have to be careful in not confusing quality with luxury. When you speak about quality, you could have tourists who book a three-star, four-star hotel. We need a little bit of everything. Let’s not delude ourselves–we need the basic numbers. Forget going back to a million tourists from four million tourists simply because that one million will spend more.

What we need to do is be smart in choosing the right kind of tourists. We are opening new segments in our industry for example increased culture tourism. The direct flight to New York has recently been opened. That not only opens Malta to wider markets like the American one, which spend more, but increases opportunities in the shoulder months for events like conferences. Everyone knows New York is a business hub, and that direct link widens opportunity.