Vaccinated and unvaccinated tourists welcome in Malta
Tourism and Consumer Protection Minister Clayton Bartolo announced recently, that the Maltese islands are reopening for tourism in summer 2021. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated tourists will be welcomed to the island of Malta from June 1st 2021. Located about 50 miles south of Sicily in the Mediterranean, Malta is a small archipelago that boasts a Mediterranean climate with over 300 sunny days per year, a top-ranked healthcare system and some of the world’s best diving locations. With a primarily English-speaking population it is the perfect location for tourism; shown by its growing popularity year on year.
As of June, eighteen airlines, including Air Malta, are expected to fly to Malta this summer, making up some 70% of the routes the island had back in 2019. Four of these airlines are new, while tourism authorities are also in “advanced talks” with a further four airlines who are interested in opening up routes to Malta. In tandem with airplanes, cruise liners will also continue their service this summer, with no less than 34 port calls scheduled until the end of June.
“We will have 18 airlines coming to Malta this summer, with four of them being new operators. Airlines are the lungs of the tourism sector and they cannot be forgotten” – Minister Bartolo announced. The Maltese government is also in discussions with the European Commission in the hopes of allowing green passports for those who are vaccinated, allowing them to travel within Malta without any restrictions. The plan, as outlined by Minister Bartolo, is that vaccinated tourists will be able to visit Malta free of restrictions by presenting a digital green passport on arrival, while non-vaccinated tourists will need to submit a negative PCR COVID-19 test, taken a few hours before their arrival.
Malta has managed to handle the COVID-19 pandemic in a manner which was praised by the World Health Organization, the EU and even the Commonwealth. Malta is one of the highest vaccinated summer destinations in Europe, with over 40 doses of the vaccine carried out per 100 population. The average numbers of daily infections are hitting all-time lows for 2021, with less than 100 daily cases. To find out more on the latest travel guidelines and tourist updates for Malta click here.