Malta aims to revive tourism by paying tourists visiting the island Agenzia di stampa Italpress italpress.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from italpress.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Malta Air will commence its summer schedule in June, with flights connecting the island to an additional five destinations within Europe in the coming months.
Speaking at a press conference, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo said the five new destinations are Cagliari (Sardinia), Brindisi, Genoa and Trapani (Sicily) in Italy and Chania (Crete) in Greece.
The new destinations will bring the total number of routes to and from Malta to 57 with a total of 155 weekly flights planned for the summer.
The Trapani route will commence in June while flights to the other four locations will take off for the first time in July. Malta Air is a subsidiary of the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair.
Malta and the UK have begun bilateral talks on creating a digital vaccine certificate and "will not be limited" by EU negotiations, Tourism Minister Clayton Bar
Updated 8.10pm
St George’s Park Hotel has denied being involved in plans for a four-day party event in June that is using photos of the hotel in its promotional material.
‘Summer in Malta’ is a four-day party festival being advertised as “an unforgettable experience on the beautiful island of Malta” which includes “four days and nights of sun, fun and frolics.”
The party is set between June 3-7, days after Malta is set to welcome the first tourists back to the island and before the country s target of vaccinating 70 per cent of adults against COVID-19 has been achieved.
Photos promoting the party online show various areas of the St George’s Park Hotel in Paceville. But the hotel has said it has nothing to do with the event and unaware of it.
Tourism authorities have not given the go-ahead to any mass events, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo has said after a series of large-scale festivals set dates for late summer.
At least three weekend party events are currently advertising events planned for mid-August to September, raising health concerns among some people on social media.
Bartolo said that mass activities will only take place if they are allowed by health authorities and under recommended guidelines.
“I can confirm that there is no blessing from the ministry or Malta Tourism Authority for mass activities to take place,” he said on Monday.
“The balance between the health of the Maltese and Gozitan people, and the prospects of our country’s economic recovery, remains our first priority.”