But Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech attributes the success achieved in 2007 to the proactive collaboration of the government, the MTA and the stakeholders. While expressing his satisfaction with the results, he says he knows only too well that "now we should and shall go for further growth and work together in that direction to achieve as much in 2008 and beyond.

"On our part, we took three conscious decisions and are reaping the positive results: the introduction of low-cost carriers in a big way, while keeping in mind the interests of legacy carriers, including Air Malta, and tour operators; increased investment to market Malta more effectively overseas; and the organisation of a wide array of cultural and entertainment events that render Malta a unique experience for the Maltese and tourists alike."

And the national airline is doing its part too. Air Malta is focusing on its marketing campaigns and aggressively promoting value-for-money travel opportunities, running successful campaigns in the core European markets, where it is offering the island as the best short-break alternative, said its General Manager, Marketing & Product, Brian Bartolo.

In the UK, it has just launched Malta the Break Escape, which has been running since the last week of October and is presenting an unbeatable travel opportunity to incoming UK tourists. In France Italy, Germany and Benelux, Air Malta’s recent advertising campaigns have resulted in a market increase in inbound travel bookings to Malta in the previously quiet November and December periods, Mr Bartolo notes.

Air Malta is an active network airline, seeking code-share agreements with global carriers — a key investment in connectivity by the Maltese national airline. The latest addition to the list of code shares was Air One, with whom Air Malta code shares on Rome Fiumicino, meaning its market reach now covers every Italian domestic airport.

The successful code-share agreement signed with Lufthansa in November 2006 allows both carriers to offer two daily non-stop flights to Frankfurt and a daily flight to Munich, with connectivity to every German regional airport, as well as offline European, American and Asian.

The move has generated substantial new traffic into Malta, with a positive direct impact on the tourism industry. The code-share agreement, which initially was solely operative on the direct Malta-Frankfurt and Malta-Munich routes is now covering every German regional route, Mr Bartolo says, adding that, recently, the code- share agreement has also been extended to the Scandinavian cities of Oslo and Stockholm. Through the code-share agreement with Lufthansa, there are non-stop daily services from Malta to Washington Dulles International Airport, via Munich.

These developments are extensively increasing the accessibility to the Malteseislands from major European and international gateways.

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