Swiroset.com

Malta’s hotels continue to win awards and are helping to boost the island’s reputation as a holiday resort of excellence for those who have not been before and are considering doing so.

And for tourists already on holiday in Malta, the rate of return visitors is increasing, which is important for any destination where tourism forms a large part of its economy.

Malta has been a popular tourist destination for years, especially among the British, but its reputation has recently been transformed. In the past, the island was often considered a Mediterranean vacation for retirees.

However, low-cost flights now mean the island is affordable for a long weekend or mid-week break for those tourists wanting just a few days of travel due to work, lowering the average age of who take holidays in Malta in the last couple of years. years, and the hotels have high enough standards to receive many of the tourists who visit again and again, a good boost for the island’s economy.

And it’s not just the traditional three and four star hotels that attract people – Malta is becoming well known for its spa breaks and some of the hotels are regularly featured and praised in UK and European magazines and newspaper articles such as one of the best in the Mediterranean.

Which means the island is more than capable of competing with areas that people traditionally head to on a three-day break: the Costa del Sol and Marbella, for example, as well as other Mediterranean islands like Cyprus for those who do. 7 day trips.

UK tourists have been drawn to Malta in the past because it enjoys the Mediterranean climate, but also because it is comfortingly British in many ways, despite gaining independence in the 1960s.

Over the years, the island has established its own identity, but some remnants of the former rulers remain: driving on the left, for example, and English is universally spoken. Combine that with the low crime rate and you have an advantage for UK tourists that other holiday destinations cannot offer.

It remains attractive to the British, helped in recent years with cheap flights to Malta, but the holiday is also increasingly attracting other nationalities, particularly Italians and increasingly Scandinavians, and the holiday market is no longer it is geared exclusively towards the UK travel market.

Hotels that have recently won awards include the Corinthia Palace, known for its spa facilities, when it won a World Travel Award, while another hotel in Malta won two Expedia awards: Le Meridien in St Julian’s. Both hotels in Malta could benefit from additional bookings in 2010 by tourists looking for good accommodation.

As the island diversifies its tourist base from almost exclusively British just a few years ago to being more cosmopolitan now, the hotel and holiday industry has raised its standards to win and ultimately retain visitors to the extent that they can win prizes in the competition. with the rest of Europe.

All of which bodes well for the future of Malta and its economy, which today derives much revenue from tourism.