Short Breaks

Malta to promote short breaks

Short breaks in Malta and holidays during the islands' "long summer and long autumn" seasons are going to be top of the agenda for a new tourism drive.



Chairman of the country's tourism authority Sam Mifsud said that when it came to holidays, Malta needed to emphasise short stays, the Times of Malta reports, with national airline Air Malta already working on promoting these.

Recent travel figures from IPK International show that Europeans took 388 million outbound trips in 2006, three per cent higher than during the previous year. They also spent 3.7 billion nights abroad.

City break holidays saw a rise of five per cent, while the number of people going on sun and beach holidays grew by four per cent.

And with white sandy beaches, major archaeological sites and some fantastic museums to draw visitors, a holiday in Malta could be said to fall into both beach and city break categories.

Malta also intends to promote the fact that it can be considered a destination with "no winter", Mr Mifsud said.

Travellers to the islands can enjoy a very sunny climate, with around 12 hours sunshine a day in summer, and a mild winter with five to six hours sunshine. The peak beach season can often last until late October.

Malta is the ideal short break destination; its small size means that the tourist can easily switch between a city break and a sun/sea holiday with just a short bus ride. It is easily possible to travel from one end of the island to another in just a few hours (using public transport) or even less if hiring a private car or motorcycle. This gives the tourist the opportunity to take in a lot of the island in a little time, the chance to experience not only the sights and places of interest, but also to encounter the Maltese way of life. In some villages such as Zejtun one can still find the old-style village bar where traditional folk singers gather around the guitarists and make up rhyming couplets to tease, mock or complement each other.

Life in Malta, and even more so on the smaller island of Gozo, moves at a slower pace and the foreign visitor would find this a healthy break from the hectic lifestyle of Northern Europe.

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