04/13/2021 2:50 PM
Clarín.com
Travels
Updated 04/13/2021 2:50 PM
The Mediterranean archipelago of
Malta will pay up to one hundred euros to tourists
who decide to spend their summer holidays there, a measure with which it aims to encourage the tourist season in the pandemic and for which it has allocated 3.5 million euros of its budgets.
The plan is aimed especially at
independent tourists
, without agencies or platforms, who travel to this Mediterranean island from June 1 and
book a minimum of three
hotel
nights
.
The Malta Tourism Authority announced that it will pay
€ 100
per person for five-star hotel reservations,
€ 75
per person for four-star establishments and
€ 50
per head for three-star accommodation.
Sunset in Valletta, capital of Malta, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
In addition, tourists staying on the neighboring
island of Gozo
, Malta's second largest and well known for its sandy beaches on the shores of turquoise waters, will get an
additional 10% discount
on their reservations.
Up to 35,000 tourists benefited
In order for visitors to access these grants, they will need to
register on an internet portal
that can be found on the page of the Maltese Tourism Authority (www.mta.com.mt).
The agency highlighted that this incentive program has a total budget of 3.5 million euros, from which
up to 35,000 tourists
could benefit
, according to official estimates.
Golden Bay, typical Maltese beach, popular destination for European summers.
The goal is to attract visitors and recover from the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which especially shook the important vacation sector, which accounted for 27% of gross domestic product in 2018, according to Eurostat.
In
2019
2,771,888 tourists
arrived on the Maltese island
, according to official data, but the pandemic caused a
77% drop
in the number of arrivals (658,000 in 2020), due to closures and restrictions on mobility throughout the planet.
Beaches, cruises and historical monuments
Malta, one of the 27 sovereign states that make up the European Union, is famous not only for its
sandy beaches
and
warm
,
sunny climate
, but especially for its many
historical monuments and architectural gems
, treasures including three declared sites. World Heritage by Unesco:
the city of Valletta
, capital of the country;
the
Hal Saflieni Hypogeum
- the only known prehistoric underground temple, excavated around 2500 BC - and
seven megalithic temples
that constitute some of the oldest free-standing structures in the world.
Lascaris, bastion and artillery battery, in Valletta, where Eisenhower planned in 1943 the Allied invasion of nearby Sicily.
Popular cruise destination and with the highest population density among the countries of the European Union, Malta
is located in a strategic position in
the south of Italy - very close to the island of Sicily - and very close to the coasts of Africa: to the east from Tunisia and to the north of Libya, which aroused the interest of many cultures throughout history and caused the island to be disputed and governed by different powers that, over the centuries, gave the place an
important historical legacy and cultural
.
Source: EFE
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