11/02/12, 23:36:06 EST

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VISET, MHRA join forces

maltastar.com

The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association and VISET, developers and operators of the Valletta Waterfront and the Cruise Passenger Terminal, announced their new partnership collaboration on Wednesday.

“Cruise business is an important niche market for the Maltese Islands , and, coupled with the hospitality sector, it has huge potential in boosting this country’s economy,” said Josef Formosa Gauci, the MHRA President.

Joseph Zammit Tabona, the VISET chairman, and Christopher Paris, General Manager, explained that recent releases show a contribution to Malta ’s GDP by the cruise industry of circa 93 million Euros. “However, this is only part of the picture.”

They added that with the cruise industry, Malta has a captive audience of circa half-a-million one-day visitors, who have paid their way and are, in a very short time, exposed to the different facets of Product Malta . This is an excellent opportunity to promote Malta to these passengers to come back on a longer holiday, and for these passengers to recommend Malta to their family and friends.

VISET’s corporate partnership with MHRA is testimony to the interdependencies and synergies between cruising and tourism. The two industries share critical success factors, such as aggressive destination marketing and air links, and also challenges to their respective long-term sustainability such as improvement to infrastructure and changes in various outdated practices.

 Printable Version  | published Oct 10, 2007