Mediterranean destination offers much more than sun and sea
BY: LEN KAUFMAN
“People want to go deeper and experience the lifestyle. We promote gastronomy, traditional food, traditional customs. We have small boutique hotels or houses in the typical villages.”
–Carlo Micallef, chief executive officer of the Malta Tourism Authority
During Seatrade 2025 held earlier this month in Miami, Florida, Travel Courier had the opportunity to connect with Carlo Micallef, the chief executive officer of the Malta Tourism Authority. Micallef shared insights into the significance of the Canadian market and what sets the Mediterranean destination apart.
When asked about the levels of inbound traffic from Canada, Micallef said, “It’s around 25,000 arrivals every year. That is, people who fly over to Malta or come by ship and stay in Malta at least one night.”
Notably, Malta has already exceeded pre-pandemic levels by nearly one million travellers.
“Pre-pandemic, we were at 2.75 [million]. In 2023, we reached 3 million – not just a little insignificant amount. At the end of 2024 we are at 3.6 million. The first two months this year are again [setting] new records,” he shared.
For travellers and clients seeking a mix of history, culture, natural beauty, and adventure, Malta has a lot to offer and at a competitive price point.
“We’re looking for a tourist that values the experience that the destination offers ahead of the price… Our objective is to give great value, top value for the price that one pays to come to Malta, both for the money he or she spends [and] also for the holiday time. Being small and so diverse, having so much to offer and [over] 200 square kilometres of land gives great value for the time and money. We’re looking for a tourist who appreciates and is interested in the history of the Mediterranean. Not only the history of Malta because Malta represents the history of the Mediterranean and all that happened.”
As a destination, he said Malta never advertises itself as simply a sun and sea getaway.
“Our advertising is never for the sun and sea. We try to match the motivations of a person to go on holiday with the product that we can offer. We have segment plans, say for history and ‘culture vultures,’ who want to discover the history of the place,” he shared. “People want to go deeper and experience the lifestyle. We promote gastronomy, traditional food, traditional customs. We have small boutique hotels or houses in the typical villages.”
While lift from Canada is not direct, he said there are plenty of ways to reach the destination with a one-stop layover.
“Say, Toronto to Europe, they could connect in Dublin, they could connect in London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Munich, Rome, Milan and Istanbul,” he noted. “It’s one stop: Canada, Europe, Europe, Malta. And we have daily connections from these cities.”
Micallef noted that one plus for the North American market is that after Maltese, English is the main secondary language, making it easy for travellers.
Micallef also highlighted that Malta has a strategy in place of managing growth beyond the peak summer months.
“We don’t want tourism to grow so fast in the summer months, so we spread tourism throughout the year and we’re spending money and allocating our resources to increase tourism in the months of January to April and October to December,” he added.
