WATCH: Malta Will Pay Tourists Up To €200 Each If They Book Rooms At A Hotel
Tourists who visit Malta this summer stand to earn up to €200 each if they stay at a three, four or five-star hotel.
Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo announced this scheme today, confirming it will apply to 35,000 “free, individual travellers” and will have an allocated budget of €3.5 million. It will only apply to foreign tourists, not domestic ones.
The way this scheme will work is as follows.
Hotels that wish to participate in the scheme will first have to declare their interest with the Malta Tourism Authority. The government will then pay tourists €100 if they stay at a five-star hotel, €75 if they stay at a four-star hotel, and €50 if they stay at a three-star hotel.
This amount must be evenly matched by the hotel, which means tourists who stay at a five-star hotel will be entitled to €200, tourists who stay at a four-star hotel will be entitled to €150, and tourists who stay at a three-star hotel will be entitled to €100.
Tourists who stay at Gozitan hotels will benefit from 10% more of these grants, to make up for the double insularity of Malta’s sister island.
Eligible tourists will have to book their stay directly with the hotel (ie. not through third-party websites like Booking.com) and the cost will cover accommodation, food and drink, and other ancillary services.
Bartolo also announced a separate €3 million scheme for travel operators who market Malta as a travel destination, with money only given if they successfully bring tourists over.
He said the MTA has already signed around 75 agreements with operators, including Tui, VisitEurope, Sunspot, Chevron, and On The Beach.
These two schemes are part of a €20 million package the government is rolling out to help the battered tourism industry ahead of the summer months. The plan is for Malta to start welcoming tourists back to its shores from 1st June.
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