WITH new four and five-star hotels coming on stream, the all-inclusive sector expanding and an increasing number of villas and farmhouses coming on the market, Malta’s range of accommodation is wider than ever this year.
The close proximity of the small island Gozo makes twin-centre holidays easy to arrange. Gozo also attracts an upmarket clientele who visit the island as a destination in its own right.
Meanwhile, diving continues to be Malta’s prime niche market, with specialist operators offering a range of tuition packages that are available year-round.
Diving holidays
The Maltese islands justifiably have a good reputation for top-quality diving and specialist operators brochure a range of tuition packages using local dive schools.
Belleair leads the way, featuring the Diveshack and Calypso schools with courses and multi-dive packs as add-ons to the brochured holiday price.
Tuition bookable through the operator ranges from the five-day British Sub Aqua Club Ocean Diver certificate course at £237 to the six-day BSAC Advanced Diver at £270 including equipment hire.
General manager Martin Zahra said: “Up to 40% of our diving business comes in winter, especially for the more advanced courses. In summer, people dive as part of the family holiday and we have a lot of beginners.”
The average age of divers is increasing, he said. “Older people are trying diving for the fun of it, but by and large it remains a sport for young people.”
Sunspot also offers diving as an extra, working with Maltaqua in Malta and Moby Dives in Gozo. The range of Professional Association of Diving Instructors and BSAC courses is available with equipment hire.
Gozo Holidays offers tuition by St Andrews Diver’s Cove, ranging upwards from £18 for a 2hr beginners dive. Boat dives, cave dives and night dives are all bookable through the operator.
All-inclusives
The four-star Fortina in Sliema was the first Maltese hotel to go fully all-inclusive in the mid 1990s and it remains Malta’s most featured hotel within the sector.
The hotel, which has its own thalassotherapy (sea-water treatment) centre, excels for Cosmos. “Malta is limited on all-inclusives and the Fortina is one of our best sellers,” said brand manager Michele Poli.
The all-inclusive package includes two free thalassotherapy treatments daily and two free excursions. Seven-night prices start at £339, rising to £609 in the summer peak.
Belleair general manager Martin Zahra always reminds agents that all-inclusive sales mean higher earnings, with every aspect of the holiday commissionable. “All-inclusives are price and convenience driven in Malta. Once agents are assured the client will receive a good deal in resort, they are happy to recommend an all-inclusive property,” he said.
Cadogan Holidays features two all-inclusives, the Fortina and Santana. Managing director Gary David said: “All-inclusives represent brilliant value in Malta. We may increase them next year.”
A 10-night stay at the four-star Santana in Qawra with Cadogan costs from £659 in the summer peak, dropping to £543 in October.
Panorama offers the new four-star Crown in Bugibba, where 14 nights cost from £489 on an all-inclusive basis and a seven-night holiday in peak season costs £479.
Sales and marketing director Martin Young said: “All-inclusives don’t seem to have taken off in Malta as readily as they have elsewhere. The product seems better suited to winter.”
Twin-centres
Most Malta specialists tailor-make twin-centre holidays pairing Malta with Gozo or the tiny island of Comino, usually based on four-star hotel accommodation or above.
Belleair additionally offers a selection of Malta/Sicily combinations using scheduled services of parent Air Malta from the island to Catania and Palermo. Sales of Malta/ Sicily twin-centres are 20% up on 1998, according to general manager Martin Zahra. “It’s an upmarket product. All our Sicily clients know about the history and architecture of the Italian island,” he said.
Two-week Malta/Sicily combinations lead in at £713 for seven nights during peak season at the three-star Carlton in St Julian’s on a bed-and-breakfast basis and seven nights half-board at the Ariston in Taormina, Sicily.
Panorama sales and marketing director Martin Young said most twin-centre clients were repeat clients. “They are tempted to try something different and the island of Gozo offers them variety,” he said.
Sunspot’s tailor-made Malta/Gozo twin-centres remain popular, according to marketing director Nick Bugeja. The company offers hotels at the top end of the market.
Villas and farmhouses
Cosmos has reintroduced Gozo farmhouses to its Villas with Pools programme this summer. Villas product manager Michele Poli said:”They’re doing well and we plan to develop them for 2000.”
The farmhouses sleep from six to 10 people and clients have to pay supplements for under-occupancy. “They’re in rural settings among beautiful scenery and provide a quieter, more exclusive holiday,” he added.
A week’s high-season holiday in a four-bedroom farmhouse for nine people costs £389 a person; a two-bedroom farmhouse for five costs £429 a person. Both include hire car and transfers.
Meon Villas marketing director Susan Williams says Gozo’s farmhouses appeal to the type of client who would book a rural retreat in northern Majorca, Tuscany or the Dordogne.
“This is where people can drop out for a couple of weeks without the mobile phone,” she said. “Here you can walk for miles and not see another tourist.”
Meon also offers apartments in the Santa Maria area of northern Malta, which Williams classifies as being similar to those found in the Algarve.
She added: “Malta sales are 26% up, out performing the programme’s overall 13% increase. People are booking earlier this year – the lead-in time has gone from 20 weeks in advanceto 22 weeks.”
Gozo Holidays has seen a huge increase in summer demand for self-catering accommodation with its own pool, said UK director Alison Phillips. Demand for units without a pool was low, she added. “Villas with their own pool were rare 10 years ago, but clients expect a pool nowadays,” she said.
Villas are booked mainly by couples, with families opting for bungalows or farmhouses.