Malta to increase trade engagement amid growing visitor numbers

Malta plans to boost its agent engagement next year as it looks to diversify its traveller profile following growing visitor figures.

 

The country has seen visitor numbers from the UK rise this year by 18% from January to September year on year. But the destination is keen to add variety not only to the type of traveller who visits but also at what time of year they come. 

 

Tolene van der Merwe, UK and Ireland director at the Malta Tourism Authority, said: “As well as increasing numbers, visitor spend is up as well. We’re pushing for the higher-end traveller as we try to focus more on luxury travel.

 

“We want travellers to come outside peak season. We noticed our September visitor numbers this year were higher than those in August, which is really good for us, and visitors from January to April this year were higher year on year, too. Even though we have high and low seasons, the nice thing is Malta is open 365 days a year.”

 

To help get this message across, the tourism board is looking to increase engagement with agents through regular training intended to educate them on destination updates.

 

Recent updates include the introduction of the Blue Lagoon booking system, which was launched in May in a bid to protect the pool against overtourism.

 

Its creation has seen visitor numbers reduce by 68%, also dropping from a high of 12,000 at any one time to 3,000.

 

Fam trips and other agent-facing activities are being lined up for next year, Van der Merwe confirmed.

 

“Our team is really busy out on the road across the UK and Ireland,” she said.

 

“Next year we’ll host more virtual and in-person training sessions so we’re more visible to agents, as well as bringing back more quirky activities like our pub quizzes.

 

“We’ll work with our trade partners to host more fam trips as well. We’ve got a good trade database, so it’s all about using that to our advantage.”