The renovation of a mature tourist destination

Abstract

During the past few years it has been noticeably seen that tourism in the Northern part of Malta has not been doing as well as it used to do in previous years. The Maltese Islands main tourism areas are located mainly towards the East coast of the main island of Malta, mainly due to the natural resources which are present there, such as beaches, the beautiful coast, and the picturesque views of the Grand Harbour which can be seen from the Sliema area. The West coast of Malta is mostly still found to be environmentally untouched, due to the high cliffs found on this side of the island, and the lack of natural resources such as sandy beaches. Is there a way on how to rejuvenate a mature tourist destination? Is it worth even trying to do so? Or is it best to just let it decline till it dies off and just switches back into a village as it was before the tourism boom? The researcher will carefully be analyzing other touristic markets which have reached the maturity stage or even the decline in their product life cycle, comparing it to Butler‟ Life Cycle of a Tourist Destination. Other countries similar to Malta have experienced such declines also, and we can learn from them in order to improve our product. Over the course of years the St Paul‟s Bay, Qawra and Bugibba have been neglected and the situation is getting worse, especially with regards to the tourism industry. For that reason the researcher decided to do his final dissertation project on this area. He will carry out an in depth study of what has been happening in this locality, it‟s present state, and what can be done in the future in order to regenerate tourism in this location.