The Malta Tourism Authority has seen almost 1,100 agents complete its online training during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A total of 2,600 courses have been taken which cover eight different categories, ranging from family holidays to city breaks.
The MTA also established a programme of trade webinars, which has seen 30 agents taking part each month – starting initially with an introduction to a topic, followed by a second session which goes into more depth drawing on experience from local experts. Topics range from history to adventure and scuba diving.
Agents have been incentivised to attend webinars and complete the online training modules with the prizes ranging from board games and gastronomy kits to places on future fam trips.
Trade marketing manager Natalie Swinburne said: “We have had some great prizes and incentives to give away but agents have just been really keen to learning during the downtime.”
She said the numbers of agents participating was “growing all the time”.
UK & Ireland director Tolene van der Merwe said a trade Facebook group set up just before the initial lockdown had become a great platform for the trade to ask and answer questions and to encourage agents to sell the destination.
She said: “We have put a lot of focus on agents specifically. We are pushing more into the trade because we understand what they are going through. They have been left out in the cold a little bit and we know we have lost quite a number of agents already but we believe the first road back will be through agents and operators who have loyal databases, so we are doing everything we can to support them.”
Van der Merwe said the 30 places in the new Malta Academy were filling up. Those in the academy will travel to Malta for three nights on March 31, 2021, where they will have “fun with learning, instead of learning with fun.” There will be training each morning but then the agents will take part in an activity or experience every afternoon.
“Being in the travel industry and not being able to travel must be so hard for agents. Their suitcases must be screaming at them! We want to be one of the first destinations to get agents back on fam trips,” Van der Merwe said.
She added: “We know we won’t be back to 2019 capacities for some time. Some are saying it will be 2024/5 before global tourism is back to where it was, but I hope for Malta it might be back by 2022.
“We think we’re in a good position, we’ve just got to maintain all our key relationships with our partners, including those providing the airlift. The trade is super-important to us and we will continue to work hard to support them.”