European Travel and Tourism Sector Launches “Destination Summer” Campaign
Supporting the Safe Reopening of European Borders
Four leading industry associations are mobilizing employees and individual travellers to urge policy-makers to coordinate and lift travel restrictions across Europe.
Brussels – As EU countries review the updated European Commission proposal to coordinate the easing of travel restrictions across Europe, Airlines For Europe (A4E), Airports Council International Europe (ACI EUROPE), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and the European Travel Retail Confederation (ETRC) have together launched
, with the goal of working with European Union and national policymakers to adopt a harmonised approach for the lifting of travel restrictions – enabling the safe and smooth resumption of free movement for European citizens.
ACI Europe has reaffirmed the European aviation industry's commitment to net-zero emissions, and has called on States to implement supportive frameworks.
The MSE Equity Price Index rallied by 1.32% to 4,029.051 points as the strong gains in FIMBank and IHI, coupled with the positive performances of BOV and Harvest, offset the declines in MIA, HSBC and Farsons. Trading activity improved markedly to €0.27 million largely on the back of increased volumes in BOV shares.
Bank of Valletta plc added 1.1% to regain the €0.90 level on volumes totalling 189,324 shares having a market value of €0.17 million. Today, BOV announced that the full transition from Raiffeisen Bank to Western Union in relation to payments in USD is planned to start in the coming days. Moreover, the bank published a Quarterly Update wherein it explained that revenues decreased by 4% in Q1 2021 but operating costs increased by 4% mainly due to increases in employee compensation, investment in technology, and higher amortisation charges.
The MSE Equity Price Index eased by 0.07% to 3,976.547 points following the declines in BMIT, GO and MIDI which outweighed the gains in HSBC. Meanwhile, BOV, MIA, Malita and MPC all closed flat as overall training activity remained stubbornly low at €0.05 million.
GO plc shed 0.6% to the €3.58 level as 4,571 shares changed hands.
BMIT Technologies plc slipped to a near 2-month low as it lost 2% to the €0.49 level across a single trade of 1,200 shares.
Similarly, MIDI plc closed at a 3-month low as it dropped by 5% to the €0.38 level across 21,590 shares.
Meanwhile, HSBC Bank Malta plc rebounded by 1.9% to the €0.82 level as 500 shares changed hands.
Airport passenger traffic in April predictably remained flat as the travel industry continued to suffer the consequences of COVID-19.
Malta International Airport said that just 39,392 passenger movements were recorded, a drop of 94% compared to the same month in 2019.
The top source markets were Italy, Germany, Turkey, France, and
Bulgaria, with the United Kingdom remaining in the bottom half of the top 10 market table as a travel ban between the two countries remained in place.
In April, Airports Council International Europe published results for the first quarter of the year, which showed that traffic across European airports represented by the organisation had declined by 81.7% compared to the same three-month period in 2019, before the pandemic broke out.