Malta to pay tourists up to £173 each for holidaying in the country

Malta is offering to pay tourists up to £173 each this summer, in a bid for tourism to return to the country following the Coronavirus pandemic.

Due to travel restrictions, closed borders and bans on trips abroad, popular tourist destinations have suffered from poor tourism and the foreign exchange that comes with it but Malta hopes the new scheme could encourage as many as 35,000 tourists to return.

Tiny island, Malta, which had more than 2.7million visitors in 2019, saw tourist numbers fall by 80 per cent in 2020 but the new scheme, offers tourists up to €200 (£173) if they book at least two nights at a local hotel, the tourism minister has announced.

Money that would be paid to tourists depends on the type of hotel they book- a five-star property would get you the full €200 while this goes down to €150 for a four-star hotel and €100 for a three-star hotel.

However, if you book a hotel on Gozo, an island in Malta you will get an extra 10 per cent.

Speaking on Monday, April 12, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo confirmed: “The scheme is aimed at putting Malta’s hotels in a very competitive position as international tourism restarts.”

Malta is one of the leading destinations in Europe for the vaccine rollout – 42 per cent have been given the first jab – while continuing to have low Covid cases.

In 2020, a number of countries were offering to pay tourists to return on holiday.

Sicily was offering to pay for 50 per cent of a plane ticket, while Mexico had a ‘two-for-one’ deal when it came to hotel stays.