A record number of cruise passengers visited Malta in 2006. With low cost airlines flying to the island 2007 could see a startling turnaround in the holiday island's fortunes.
Good news for the holiday island of Malta has come in droves recently, following a period of decline in visitor numbers.Commenting upon the findings, a local travel guide says that while the spending per passenger while in Malta is small compared to holidaymakers, it's an important contribution to the island's economy.
'The spend is estimated at around US $10,000,000. And while this represents an average of around $40 a passenger, and holidaymakers spend considerably more, an important factor is that over 80 per cent of passengers would consider stopping at Malta again, and potentially that's a good number who would consider a land based holiday in the future.'
The good news for Malta doesn't stop at increased numbers of cruise passengers, as low cost airlines have recently started flying to the island.
'It's been a while since we've been able to say this,' comment YourMalta, 'but there are exciting times ahead for the Malta holiday industry. As well as the good news on passenger numbers from cruise ships, low cost airlines have started flying in passengers and it should boost the number of new tourists quite significantly in 2007.'
The turnaround in the Malta tourist industry's fortunes has come just in time according to some travel experts.
Hotel and holiday numbers have been declining consistently, and in late spring 2006 rumours were circulating on the island that one of the major UK travel companies were about to withdraw Malta from their 2007 brochures, with the worry that if others followed suit Malta would be relegated from mainstream to niche travel status.
The pessimism of 2006 has been replaced by optimism for 2007 as new low cost airlines have already started delivering passengers to the island, with some estimates suggesting that close to 100,000 visitors extra is on the cards for the year ahead.