Malta Tourism Authority has partnered with selected travel agents as part of its new ‘Feel Free Again’ marketing campaign.
The tourist board has partnered with Advantage Travel Partnership member Sheffield Travel; homeworking group Not Just Travel and easyJet holidays for its outdoors advertising push, which went live on Saturday (May 15).
The imagery includes a travel agent call-to-action message and will run for six months at The Moor shopping district in Sheffield; Drake Circus shopping centre in Plymouth; and various locations in London, Manchester, and Liverpool, including Wembley Box Park and Manchester Victoria Station.
Training is being run with these travel agencies, as well as agents in the surrounding areas of Sheffield, Plymouth, Liverpool, Manchester and London.
Natalie Swinburne, trade marketing manager for the UK & Ireland, said: “We’re always looking for new ways to support our trade partners and we plan to incorporate travel agents into our advertising plans throughout 2021.
“We have deliberately chosen a broad range of the types of travel agents we work with, including the self-employed and smaller agencies within these key regions to help support our regional flight routes into Malta.”
More: Malta unveils couples focus for agents
Malta joins Atas to promote island to ‘adventure seekers’
David Forder, head of marketing at Advantage Travel Partnership, added: “At Advantage, we’re always keen to support and work with our tourist board partners and get our members involved wherever possible. Campaigns like this provide an extra layer of confidence for consumers and reinforce the message to book with a trusted travel agent.”
Tolene Van Der Merwe, the MTA’s UK & Ireland director, commented: “We were hopeful that Malta was going to be added to the UK’s green travel list…and while we didn’t make it this time, we remain positive that will change soon, and we are very much looking forward to welcoming back British travellers.
“The pent-up demand for travel is there, and we know travellers will be ready to head to the sunshine as soon as they get the green light to do so.”
More than 60% of the adult population in Malta has received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, while one in five have received the second dose.
From June 1, Malta will welcome travellers from the UK who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
The UK is currently on Malta’s ‘amber List’ of countries, which means non-vaccinated travellers can still enter the country but must present a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of travel.