The conference and incentive travel segment of tourism in Malta has registered a better performance in 2004 than in 2003, according to a research conducted by the Malta Tourism Authority's (MTA) Strategic Planning and Research Division.

The research was conducted with local destination management companies who helped in the exercise by giving feedback about their performance. The results of the research highlight the necessity to provide quality facilities and services in order to encourage repeat business for leisure purposes.

Malta can in fact increase earnings by placing emphasis on the options of pre- and post-conference tours in bidding documents, thereby encouraging the visiting delegates to increase their stay for leisure purposes.

Survey results show that the total earnings for Malta from the conference and incentive travel segment, including expenditure during the stay, is estimated to have reached Lm27 million (US$ 82m) in 2004, which shows an increase of Lm4 million (US$ 12m) when compared to the Lm23 million (US$ 70m) totalled in 2003.

The results also revealed that during the first 6 months of 2004 the budget per delegate was Lm355 (US$ 1,087). This figure is inclusive of accommodation, transfers, meals and entertainment over an average stay of 3 nights.

This result also showed a shift upwards when compared to 2003, when the average per delegate was Lm309 (US$ 946).

The majority of the delegates stayed in five-star accommodation, while one third stayed in four-star accommodation. The majority of the meetings also took place in hotels, even though the share of convention centres increased by two percentage points in 2003.

The research also reveals that Air Malta was the preferred carrier of the delegates, followed by Lufthansa and Alitalia.

International conferences' main markets were the UK, the Benelux region in Belgium, and Germany. Germany was among the top countries even in terms of outbound market to Malta, along with France, the UK, and Italy.