Visit Malta website in Mandarin to target Chinese tourists

Chinese and American tourists are being targeted by Malta’s tourism authorities in a bid to capture new markets away from the traditional EU zone.

In an opinion for MaltaToday on Sunday, tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis said he was working to encourage more Chinese tourists to Malta through Beijing’s COTTM tourism fair.

He also announced that MTA will be launching a Visit Malta website in Chinese, to make it accessible to this market.

“To further strengthen the relation that exists between Malta and China, a memorandum of understanding between the two countries was signed in July this year… providing enhanced cooperation in tourism and culture, in addition to a new air services agreement for better connectivity between the two countries, which is a crucial ingredient for success.”

In September, the MTA will also host an exclusive inspection visit of top US tour operators in cooperation with the United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA). “We will launch an online educational programme reaching more than 80,000 travel agents and tour operators across both the United States and Canada. The objective of this initiative is to educate and inform the American and Canadian trade community about the product, service and experiences that Malta and Gozo offer to their visitors.”

The EU is discussing a new ‘Touring Visa’ to allow non-EU travellers to circulate within the Schengen area for up to one year, without staying in one member state for more than 90 days in any 180-day period.