Malta has been chosen to host the 2012 Advantage conference.
The event will be held at the Hilton Malta Conference Centre in St Julians, part of the Hilton Malta Hotel, which hosted last year’s Abta Travel Convention. The hotel is located on the fashionable Portomaso waterfront development and marina.
Leisure director Julia Lo Bue-Said said most Advantage members would not have experienced the hotel and conference facilities as they did not attend the Travel Convention last year.
Malta enjoyed a record year in 2010 and is hoping to maintain visitor levels this year despite a bookings slowdown due to Middle East protests earlier in the year. Last year 415,120 UK visitors went to Malta compared to 398,472 in 2009 – a 4.2% increase. Overall, there was an increase of nearly 13% in visitors internationally, the country’s best ever year in terms of tourism.
Meanwhile, delegate numbers at this year’s Advantage conference are 20% up on last year’s event in Lucerne.
Around 480 delegates attended the conference in Madrid, compared to 440 last year. Most of the 40 extra delegates were travel agents.
The increase was in part attributed to good flight access to Madrid.