Category: Archive – 2014

A new
Eurobarometer survey from January 2014 shows that more than a quarter of us
turn our phone off altogether when we travel within the EU. This means that
telecom companies are missing out on extra potential revenue, and it shows that
EU citizens travelling for work or pleasure are afraid of being stung with a
huge bill when they get home.

The Israel
Innovation conference is a unique and exciting new international Biomed and
High-tech conference format. The conference will take place at the Tel Aviv
Fairgrounds May 20-22, 2014.

This conference led by IATI will also bring the government perspective
through the involvement of the Chief Scientist (OCS) of the Israeli Ministry of
Economy.

IATI is
Israel's umbrella organization representing the various constituents of the
nation's advanced technologies, be it high-tech, biomed, multi-national
corporations, start-ups, incubators, accelerators,  technology transfer offices of academic
institutions,  venture capital funds,
service providers and more.

The OCS annual
R&D Conference will also merge with Israel Innovation Week, bringing the
government perspectives and exhibitions of the OCS programs into the new
format. The Biomed and High-tech venues will include lectures, company
presentations and exhibitions. While each event will cater to the participants
of its respective agenda, the event will also include joint sessions covering
topics of mutual interest to the entire advanced technology industries
including: perspectives of innovation and R&D policy and the convergence of
technologies between High-tech and Biomed and other factors of the Israeli
eco-sector.

Further
information and registration can be found at :

http://mixiii.com/home/welcome-letter#.Uwd9uYV9D6c

This is the
fifth seminar in a series of five being organised by MCCAA. The seminar will provide information about:

This half day seminar will be held on Friday 14 March from 8:30 a.m.
till 1:00 p.m. at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta. Entrance is
free of charge. Attendees are however required to register at:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1oTxMvLHUVlRQ0b3ILcVHIsduf-rtcynpNrngJnNgRWw/viewform

The European
Commission proposed this week a set of voluntary European Tourism Quality
Principles to ensure that tourists travelling to other Member States or
visiting our continent from third countries will get value for their money.

These principles cover four main areas: staff training under the supervision of
a quality coordinator, consumer satisfaction to ensure that tourist can rely on
handling of their complaints, cleanliness and maintenance, and correctness and
reliability of information in at least the most relevant foreign language. Such
access to reliable and up-to-date information on the quality of tourism services
enables tourists to differentiate among competing products, to make an informed
choice and to overcome linguistic difficulties. Small and medium size
enterprises (SMEs) will find it easier to emphasize that they are providing a
high quality service by sticking to the principles. The proposal will therefore
help SMEs which make up over 90% of the EU tourism sector.

More
information:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/tourism/quality-label/index_en.htm

Computer and Internet Usage – Results showed high levels of
computer use throughout all enterprise size classes and economic activities.
The construction industry recorded the lowest usage rate, and stood at 89.8 per
cent. On the other hand, wholesale and retail trade recorded the highest rate
at 99.4 per cent.

In 2013, 95.5 per cent of
enterprises made use of the internet for business purposes. This figure
remained almost unchanged when compared with 2012. The number of employees
using internet reached 29,104, up by 2.0 per cent over the previous year.

Most enterprises (87.9 per
cent) made use of a DSL internet connection, and 66.6 per cent of enterprises
were also connected via mobile broadband (Chart 1). Results showed that DSL was
the most popular connection among small and medium-sized enterprises, while
mobile broadband was mostly popular with large enterprises.

The rate of e-government usage
decreased marginally over 2012 to 92.6 per cent. On the other hand, enterprises
owning a website or homepage increased by 5.1 per cent. Over half of
enterprises' websites included a ‘product catalogue and pricelist' (54.6 per
cent), with 48.2 per cent of these websites also displaying a ‘privacy policy
statement'

Results showed that 19.3 per
cent of enterprises using the internet also carried out sales via e-commerce.
Similarly, purchases via e-commerce were carried out by 22.2 per cent of
enterprises.

Mobile
Internet Users

The survey showed that 69.3
per cent of enterprises provided mobile devices to some of their employees for
business purposes, an increase of 27.5 per cent over 2012. Provision of mobile
devices to employees increased among all enterprise size classes and economic
activities. In total, 7,751 employees made use of a mobile device for work
purposes. This represents an average of nine mobile devices per enterprise.

Social
Media

The 2013 survey also included
an ad-hoc module on the use of social media among enterprises. Results showed
that 711 enterprises (57.8 per cent) using internet also used social media.
Nearly 80 per cent used social media to develop their corporate image whereas
58.3 per cent used it to obtain customer feedback

Further information on this report can be found at:

http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_file.aspx?id=3930

Following discussions with Perit Charles Buhagiar Chairman of
the Building Industry Consultative Council to tackle issues hindering the
quarry sector, GRTU this week met its members quarry owners.

GRTU heard
the many problems this sector has, which include:

Quarry operators say
their work in the quarry business has become impossible. A committee was
nominated to accompany GRTU in discussions with Perit Buhagiar.

OHSA-Malta in
collaboration with the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has
produced 13 roll-up posters related to various aspects of Health and
Safety.  The inauguration of this project took place on the  21^st  of
November 2013 at the offices of the Authority in Pieta and since then it has
been exhibited in various places around Malta and Gozo.

The
Agricultural Directorate is organising a seminar on the Policy for Agricultural
Products in Malta on Monday the 24^th of February 2014.

This proposal
for regulation enables information provision and promotion measures necessary
for the agricultural sector to be able to rise to the many challenges it faces
in a context of growing competition and opening-up of markets to be implemented
on the internal market and in third countries.

The success of
European agriculture depends on its ability to increase its market shares and
enable the highly competitive food industry sector to maintain an important
position in the EU's trade and economy.

Kindly Note
that attendance to the seminar is on a first-come-first-served basis and
therefore you are kindly being requested to call 2292 4260 to reserve your
place.

GRTU is calling for members to bring forward suggestions,
complaints, etc with the idea of improving Malta's attractiveness to tourists
and improving our tourism product for their business and locality.

We would like to inform members that Government has set
up three Tourism Zone Committees; south, central and north and these are
managed by a main Committee. GRTU together with other stakeholders, such as
residents and local councils, is involved at all levels and is seeking to
involve its members as much as possible, both through their suggestions and
direct involvement.

The idea behind these Committees is to discuss the
subject of tourism holistically, including the management within localities and
further product development. The Committees met for the first time this week
and a chairman and co chairman was elected for every zone. GRTU Tourism and Hospitality Sector
President Philip Fenech is GRTU's main representative of the main Committee and
is seeking to involve members in this project.

Mr Fenech also attended a public consultation this week on
tourism where the Minister for Tourism Karmenu Vella and the Parliamentary
Secretariat for Local Government and Culture Hose Herrera covered a number of
issues. It was explained that tourism is developing through further
accessibility and development of the different segments that our tourism
product is offering. They also spoke about Airmalta and its strategic
importance, the enactment of a national aviation policy and plans related to
increasing the potential of the cruise liner industry. Emphasis was also made
on the importance to maintain and better manage our historical sites which are
only second after those in Rome and should be treated and regarded as such.

In his intervention during the public consultation Mr Fenech
thanked Minister Vella for the initiative in enacting the tourism zones and for
involving GRTU at all levels. He highlighted that GRTU would like to see the
zones managed in a centralized manner and that when an issue arises within a
locality that might impact negatively on our tourism product we could have a
central helpline to tackle issues immediately. Minister Vella responded
positively to this suggestion and said he will set up such single point of
contact within the Ministry of Tourism 
and the details will be made available shortly.

Members interested to participate in these discussions and
put forward their suggestions should call GRTU on 21 232 881/3 or
. Mr Fenech can be contacted directly on 99493534.