St Paul's helping hand

Kurt Farrugia and David Vella, writing in Maltastar, take the cue from Helena Smith's Guardian article to ask whether St Paul can boost Maltese tourism:

Tourism stakeholders are saying that the industry is in dire straights. The government is impotent in front of this situation. But one saint, father of Maltese Christianity St Paul, can save the day for Maltese tourism. Malta, like Greece and other Mediterranean countries, might find in St Paul a perfect saviour to bolster an ailing industry.

The Guardian, on Friday, reported how Greece will try to buttress the country’s top-earning industry by capping a campaign to re-brand Greece as a destination for modern-day pilgrims. Tourism, the main industry in Malta, has been diminishing and on Friday the Malta Hotels and Restaurant Association stated their concern about Malta’s tourism industry. They placed all stakes on low-cost airlines, but little did they know there is a plan B… St Paul.

Greece is already marketing their country as a tourist destination for modern day pilgrims. “Religious tourism is the way forward,” said Temistokles Blaskas, director of tourist facilities at the national tourism organisation, to The Guardian. So why has Malta, the island where churches and religious symbols ornament our streets and spiritual life, not exploited this niche yet?

Next week Greece will be gearing up to boost the Saint. They will start preparing sites along the route where the apostle preached. The Greek drive is part of a wider, EU-funded campaign, which Italy, Malta, Cyprus and the Palestinian authorities have also signed up to..

But is Malta prepared? The island who recalls a St Paul’s shipwreck. The one man who is said has brought Christianity to the island and preached before sailing his way to his death in Rome, is already being exploited marketing-wise by another country for the benefit of tourism. Mr Makarios told The Guardian that EU funds have been earmarked to train young people for the industry, and international tour operator and travel agents will soon be meeting to discuss the creation of a Mediterranean network of religious tourism.

Late Pope John Paul had also travelled on the trail of St Paul and stopped over in Malta. Will Malta take advantage of this to boost its tourism, as Greece and other Mediterranean countries are already doing?