Air Fare Deals

Posts Tagged ‘2007’

Holiday makers and business people visiting Malta are enjoying lower fares since the introduction of low cost airlines late last year.

Not only has their choice of airline and airports serving Malta widened considerably, but the perennial favourite of many business and holiday travellers, Air Malta, has fought back against the new low cost airlines with reduced fares and offers of their own.

In their traditional market of flights from the UK to Malta, the airline started a new route from Liverpool’s John Lennon airport in May, serving the north-west of England.

As part of their offensive to retain current passengers and to tempt new ones to use the airline, Air Malta are offering clients the opportunity to book flights in advance for this autumn and winter with prices starting from around 20 Euros (around US ).

If successful the extra tourists for Malta in her off-peak months will be a welcome boost for the island’s hotels and holiday trade, coming off the back of a summer that could see a ten per cent rise in arrivals compared to last year.

With official tourism office statistics showing the rise in visitor figures for 2007 compared to 2006, a long period of decline has been reversed for people taking holidays in Malta.

With tourism numbers up, tourism chiefs have seen the magic bullet that has driven the statistics, and also embraced the concept of low air fares.

While Malta has previously received most of their visitors from the UK, the idea of diversification has become possible as low cost airlines operate from most European countries, and the island is already receiving flights from Germany and Spain.

The country has let it be known that they will welcome applications for flights from Scandanavia and other areas of Europe.

The u-turn is now complete, from a backward looking slow to respond tourist office, to one that sees a quick fix to Malta’s previous declining popularity as a holiday destination.

Helping Malta’s image in the UK, Germany and other countries have been reports placing Malta at the top of tourist safety tables.

An American journalist last year placed the small Mediterranean island of Malta as one of the five safest travel destinations in the world, and a new report from the US this year confirms Malta as one of the safest vacation spots in the world.

This year’s report bears more official weight than the previous one by a travel writer, as it was compiled by the US State Department.

Commenting on Malta, the report praises the island for the non existence of organised crime, especially surprising perhaps given her proximity to mainland Italy – and closer still to Sicily.

A surprise for many who have driven in Malta is that the report considers the island’s roads to be safe. But this is backed up by official EU figures showing Malta has the lowest road related fatalities in Europe.

Official statistics have shown the holiday island of Malta has enjoyed a ten per cent rise in arrivals this year compared to last.

Low cost airlines started flying to Malta in November 2006, and as well as showing the rise in visitors, the figures show that the tourists haven’t diluted the amount spent per person.

One of the concerns some in the tourist industry had before the island agreed to allow low cost flights was that the amount spent per passenger arrival would be lower than the status quo.

But these fears have proved to be unfounded as expenditure from tourists rose 12 per cent, with inflation taken into account the figures show that the passengers arriving on a low cost flight were spending as much as those on more expensive travel.

With the main summer holiday season still to be taken into account the overall rise in visitor numbers for Malta could be as high as 15 per cent.

The airline that first brought low cost airlines to Malta has done well enough to start new routes to the island.

Ryanair, the Irish based low cost airline, were the first airline to win the right to fly to Malta from the island’s main markets for tourism of Ireland and the UK.

The first route launched has been running between London’s Luton Airport since November, while the Dublin route had its inaugural flight in March. Both routes have attracted good seat occupancy levels, with tourist numbers in Malta rising.

The new route will run between Bremen in Germany to Malta and will be a welcome addition for Malta’s attempt to attract more German tourists to the island. Operating three times a week, it is hoped that the first flights will begin in September.

Before the new flights began last November, estimates suggested that the low cost airline could add an extra 80,000 tourists to the island in 2007, but this figure has been radically upgraded to double that.

Malta’s slow pace of life might have contributed to the late introduction of low cost flights compared to her competitors, or it could have been politicians and the tourist authorities more interested in protecting the island’s national airline with attitudes that the rest of Europe began to shrug off in the 80′s, but whatever the reason, now that Malta has allowed the low cost airlines, they can’t get enough of them.

The number of visitors to Malta is up ten per cent this year, thanks mainly to the extra arrivals being delivered by the low cost airlines. And the extra holiday makers couldn’t have come at a better time as the island has seen steadily decreasing tourists numbers in recent years – the ultimate factor in the decision to allow the flights in.

With tourism numbers up, tourism chiefs have seen the magic bullet that has driven the statistics, and embraced the concept of low air fares whole heartedly.

While Malta has previously received most of their visitors from the UK, the idea of diversification has become possible as low cost airlines operate from most European countries, and the island is already receiving flights from Germany and Spain.

The country has let it be known that they will welcome applications for flights from Scandanavia and other areas of Europe.

The u-turn is now complete, from a backward looking slow to respond tourist office, to one that sees a quick fix to Malta’s previous declining popularity as a holiday destination.

The airline that first brought low cost airlines to Malta has done well enough to start new routes to the island.

Ryanair, the Irish based low cost airline, were the first airline to win the right to fly to Malta from the island’s main markets for tourism of Ireland and the UK. The first route launched has been running between London’s Luton Airport since November, while the Dublin route had its inaugural flight in March. Both routes have attracted good seat occupancy levels, with tourist numbers in Malta rising.

The new route will run between Bremen in Germany to Malta and will be a welcome addition for Malta’s attempt to attract more German tourists to the island.

Operating three times a week, it is hoped that the first flights will begin in September. Before the new flights began last November, estimates suggested that the low cost airline could add an extra 80,000 tourists to the island in 2007, but this figure has been radically upgraded to double that.

Malta’s slow pace of life might have contributed to the late introduction of low cost flights compared to her competitors, or it could have been politicians and the tourist authorities more interested in protecting the island’s national airline with attitudes that the rest of Europe began to shrug off in the 80′s, but whatever the reason, now that Malta has allowed the low cost airlines, they can’t get enough of them.

The number of visitors to Malta is up nearly ten per cent this year, thanks mainly to the extra arrivals being delivered by the low cost airlines. And the extra holiday makers couldn’t have come at a better time as the island has seen steadily decreasing tourists numbers in recent years – the ultimate factor in the decision to allow the flights in.

With tourism numbers up, tourism chiefs have seen the magic bullet that has driven the statistics, and embraced the concept of low air fares whole heartedly. While Malta has previously received most of their visitors from the UK, the idea of diversification has become possible as low cost airlines operate from most European countries, and the island is already receiving flights from Germany and Spain.

The country has let it be known that they will welcome applications for flights from Scandanavia and other areas of Europe.

The u-turn is now complete, from a backward looking slow to respond tourist office, to one that sees a quick fix to Malta’s previous declining popularity as a holiday destination.

Helping Malta’s image in the UK, Germany and other countries have been reports placing Malta at the top of tourist safety tables.

An American journalist last year placed the small Mediterranean island of Malta as one of the five safest travel destinations in the world, and a new report from the US this year confirms Malta as one of the safest vacation spots in the world.

This year’s report bears more official weight than the previous one by a travel writer, as it was compiled by the US State Department.

Commenting on Malta, the report praises the island for the non existence of organised crime, especially surprising perhaps given her proximity to mainland Italy – and closer still to Sicily.

A surprise for many who have driven in Malta is that the report considers the island’s roads to be safe. But this is backed up by official EU figures showing Malta has the lowest road related fatalities in the EU.

As the year winds down the world looks back on what was and what was not. Leading news czars like TIME in partnership with CNN do a round up on many topics from the mundane to the most interesting both online and offline. The World Wide Web is filled with listings that reflect selections of panels, experts, and user votes.

Here is what TIME listed as the top 25 websites that people can do without:

1. Amazon.com that constantly innovates to meet its large customer needs. The website has introduced a service where customers can place orders for out of print, blacklist, and large print books. And Amazon will be selling DRM free MP3s.

2. BBC.Co.UK is rich in content –world news, sports, radio, articles, audio and more.

3. Citysearch.com is the popular source an guide for the choicest restaurants, bars, nightclubs, hotels, and spas in dozens of cities. The website has user reviews as well as editor’s picks.

4. Craigslist.org is popular world over with classifieds for every category.

5. Del.icio.us.com is a platform for sharing favorite links and knows what others like and enjoy.

6. Digg.com is the undisputed leader is social news. Users determine what’s happening and what is not.

7. Ebay.com is the buzzing marketplace where selling is hot business.

8. ESPN.com the sports fanatics’ choice.

9. Facebook.com has given a new meaning to social networking.

10. FactCheck.org is a source for checking political facts. Independent, non partisan, and accurate.

11. Flickr.com is a showcase for photographs to be shared with one and all.

12. Google.com is the world’s leading Web search engine.

13. HowStuffWork.com is a great resource for those who want to know how things work.

14. The Internet Movie Database is an extensive directory of films and TV shows of the past, present, and future.

15. YouTube.com is for people with spirit, a video sharing hub it has more visitors than many.

16. Kayak.com is for those with wings on their feet. A search engine for hundreds of travel sites to locate best air fares.

17. National Geographic.com is a resource for educational information.

18. Netflix.com has digital movie downloads.

19. Technorati.com is a blog search engine with hot topics of the day.

20. TMZ .com is the preferred source for celebrity and entertainment news.

21. USA.gov is the official web portal for the US government.

22. TelevisionWithoutPity.com is a recap of popular TV shows.

23. WebMD.com is a resource for health related information.

24. Wikipedia.org is the encyclopedia with zillions of topics and languages.

25. Yahoo.com a site that innovates constantly to offer users greater facilities like unlimited mail storage.

The World Wide Web is a much happening place and popularity ratings reflect user patterns and more. Websites have to set high standards and maintain services to be on top and voters, expert panels, and editors have stringent norms for selection.