All tourism records broken - de Marco

This year was the best for tourism in Malta’s history with arrivals, bed nights and expenditure records being broken, Tourism Minister Mario de Marco said this morning. The minister was speaking after visiting preparations for this evening’s New Year celebrations in Valletta and Floriana, for which some 40,000 people are expected. He then visited Castille Hotel in Valletta and Phoenicia Hotel in Floriana. The minister hoped to see a flow of people going from one locality to another this evening visiting all three main stages of entertainment - in Floriana, the new theatre on the site of the former Opera House, and St George’s Square. Dr de Marco said that a total of 1.44 million tourists visited Malta this year, leaving some €1.3 billion in the economy and spending 12 million nights here. This was a million more than the previous record which was five years ago. Dr de Marco said that there were a number of applications for boutique hotels and thanked workers in the tourism industry who made the successes being achieved possible.