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The annual free music festival Isle of MTV has boosted the number of young visitors
Malta has also been enjoying growing attention from LGBT travellers. Same- sex marriage was legalised in 2016 and Malta now tops the ILGA Rainbow Europe Index, which benchmarks 49 countries in terms of equality. Its position at a geographical
Free music festival Isle of MTV is in its 13th year on Malta, having been invited by the tourism authority in order to attract younger tourists. The average age of the European music fans attending is 26 years, with the most common 17 years old. Lady Gaga, Rita Ora, Snoop Dogg and Paloma Faith have been among performers. “Together with Malta Tourism Authority we are always pushing creative boundaries in the staging and music programming of the event,” says Russell Samuel, vice president, creative and integrated marketing for Viacom Velocity International, the company behind Isle of MTV.
“When we started out in Malta it was a straightforward live music event made for TV. Fast forward to now and it has become the biggest free outdoor live music festival in Europe – and across all platforms.”
Malta’s scenic St Peter’s Pool Malta
Malta Music Week now
The destination is capitalising on its LGBT-friendly reputation
Russell Samuel: pushing creative boundaries
precedes the festival. “We’ve aligned with the average length of our target audience’s holidays and provided further music experience and rationale for people to book a trip to Malta,” explains Samuel.
More island locations are now showcased, while an impressive social strategy engages people at home. Almost one in four MTV viewers have
already booked a trip to Malta, up 77% since 2012. The Ministry of Tourism’s statistics meanwhile show Malta’s under-24 tourist segment has increased by 120% since Isle of MTV began and now accounts for 25% of annual arrivals. “Experiential tourism has been key to the diversification of Malta’s visitors, says Samuel.
The latest big name tie-up, with Nickelodeon, will encourage families to key attractions on an island-wide character treasure hunt in April. Perhaps surprisingly for a heavily Catholic country,
46 wtm insights winter 2018
crossroads has helped Malta develop a live-and-let-live attitude, says Micallef. He adds: “We’re known already as a gay-friendly destination and we’re reaching out to that demographic through the right media.” Another growing visitor niche has been football. Major teams from the Nordic countries, Russia, former Soviet republics, Germany and the Netherlands now use the islands as a winter base, bringing families and supporters with them. This has helped winter show the biggest percentage arrivals growth: 24% for January to March in 2017. “It’s good for hotels. In the past, summer months made up for the winter months, now they’re making profit all year round, explains Micallef.
Starring role
Thanks in part to Malta and Gozo’s well-preserved historic cities, numerous films and T series have been shot on the islands, including Troy, Gladiator and Game of Thrones. The tourism benefit, says Micallef, has come not from the screen showcase but the word-of-mouth from stars.
“They upload photos of themselves on social media, they say they’re enjoying themselves, that Malta is not what they expected, and that really helps.” He adds: “Unfortunately, so far we haven’t had a movie that shows Malta for itself. It’s stood in for Venice, Greece, Lebanon, Troy…” However, that could be about to change, as the tourism authority is in talks with etflix over a series starring a top actor and featuring the island in its own right. Malta has a target of three million tourists for next year. With Brexit affecting its core market, Micallef admits this is ambitious, but he remains optimistic. To do this we need flight connectivity – and that’s in each of our markets; a good product – and we believe from surveys that the product by and large is very good; and we need to create even more events that get people engaged and encourage them.” He promises further event announcements before the year-end. DMC director Arrigo is similarly positive. “Malta has come a long way in its diversity and has progressed very fast. We’ve got a very progressive approach and there’s a lot of optimism in the destination. Most of the people who work in tourism work from their hearts.”
wtm.com
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