Hey my lovelies, happy #Saturday!
Boy do I have some #amazing news to kick off your weekend!
I mean, who doesn't like FREE MONEY??
I'm #overjoyed to share this lovely snippet of information hot off the press from the #Maltese Tourism Authority.
This summer, if you book your accommodation DIRECTLY with your #hotel you will receive FREE CASH!!
Honestly!!
Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo announced during a press conference today that the #Malta Tourism Authority has been allocated €3.5million for the scheme that will "positively impact some 35,000 tourists #travelling to the island from June."
The lowdown so far as I can see it is, tourists booking directly through the hotels own booking system (so not a 3rd party provider like #Expedia or Booking.com will receive the following handouts from the Malta Tourism Authority,
5* hotel - €100
4* hotel - €75
3* hotel - €50
How #awesome is that! 🎉🎉🎉
It's not clear to me yet if this payment will be per person or per room, the announcement mentions "free, individual travellers". The handout also only applies to visiting foreign tourists only, not to "staycationers". But hey, even if it's per room, it's still #magnificent!
Hotels first need to indicate that they wish to participate in the scheme by declaring their interest with the MTA.
Now if you thought that was #fabulous, wait until you hear this!
The above handouts will be MATCHED by each individual participating hotel! 🤩
This could mean that if you choose to stay in a 5* property, you will be entitled to receive a whopping €200!! (The money will be handed to you directly by the hotel)
The only stipulation is that you must stay at least 3 days.
AND - staying in #Gozo attracts an even bigger handout, with a further 10% being added!! 🤩🤩
I honestly had to check the date of this press release to make sure it wasn't April the 1st! 😆
This is an absolutely awesome scheme which I can only see as a win-win.
As tourists we receive a nice chunk of spending money which we will undoubtedly reinvest back into the local economy, and the hospitality industry will receive the huge boost they need following a very barren 12 months.
Also covered during the press conference was the intention to work with the UK to encourage UK arrivals this summer.
Industry operators are very concerned that there could be a potential drop in the number of UK #tourists choosing to visit this year. Fear of restrictions changing mid trip, the expense of #PCR tests for those yet to receive their vaccines being two of the potential barriers to travel.
This would of course be highly detrimental to the recovery of the tourism economy as the UK is the largest source market for Malta, and traditionally, we are in the words of the legendary Shirley Bassey, "big spenders".
Bartolo is in high level talks with his UK counterpart at the British High Commission to establish a way forward. Currently, the UK is on Malta's red list, which means all travel is banned except for returning Maltese nationals and residents. Positively, he stated that he is "confident" that a solution would be "mapped out" in the coming weeks, as the islands hope to welcome us back from the 1st of June.
As soon as I receive the minutiae of the scheme I will pop out another update.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, eek, it's not long now until we can all hit the beer gardens and all get our barnets cut!
Take care and speak soon
Tracy
😀🥂✂