The Mediterranean country that will “pay” tourists this summer

The Mediterranean archipelago of Malta will pay tourists up to one hundred euros who decide to spend their summer vacation there, a measure with which it intends to encourage the tourist season in the pandemic and for which it has allocated 3.5 million euros of its budgets.

The plan targets in particular independent tourists, without agencies or platforms, who travel to this Mediterranean island from June 1 and who book a minimum of three nights of the hotel.

The Malta Tourism Authority has announced it will pay 100 euros per person in five-star hotel reservations, 75 euros per person in 4-star establishments and 50 euros per person in the case of three-star accommodation.

In addition, tourists staying in the vicinity island of gozo, the second largest in Malta and well known for its sandy beaches on the shores of turquoise waters, will get a additional 10% discount in your reserves.

Up to 35,000 tourists have benefited from it

In order for visitors to access these aids, it will be necessary to register on an Internet portal which can be found on the Maltese Tourism Authority website (www.mta.com.mt).

The agency stressed that this incentive program has a total budget of 3.5 million euros, from which they could benefit up to 35,000 tourists, according to official estimates.

The aim is to attract visitors and to recover from the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which especially shook the important holiday sector, which represented 27% of gross domestic product in 2018, according to Eurostat.

At 2019 they arrived on the Maltese island 2,771,888 tourists, according to official data, but the pandemic has caused a 77% crash the number of arrivals (658,000 in 2020), due to closures and mobility restrictions around the world.

Beaches, cruises and historical monuments

Malta, one of the 27 sovereign states that make up the European Union, is famous not only for its sand beaches and his hot sunny weather, but above all for its many historical monuments and architectural gems, treasures including three UNESCO World Heritage sites: the city of Valletta, country’s capital; the Hippo by Hal Saflieni -the only known prehistoric underground temple, excavated around 2500 BC- and seven megalithic temples constituting some of the oldest free-standing structures in the world.

Popular cruise destination and with the highest population density among the countries of the European Union, Malta is located in a strategic position in the south of Italy – very close to the island of Sicily – and very close to the coast of Africa: in the east of Tunisia and in the north of Libya, which has aroused the interest of many cultures in throughout history and has made the island disputed and ruled by different powers that, over the centuries, have endowed the place with a important historical and cultural heritage.

Source: EFE