Malta travel warning with UK tourists facing ‘cap’ and arrivals limited

Malta has warned tourists must be “capped” with an academic on the holiday island “very concerned” by the sheer number of arrivals in the destination. A professor in Malta has warned tourists and holidaymakers in the island should be “capped” with the hotspot “exceeding its carrying capacity.”

Speaking to the Daily Express Online, Professor Lino Briguglio said: “Eventually, I believe many high-density tourist destinations will realise that the economic benefits of tourism would be outweighed by the environmental social downsides unless tourism inflows are capped.”

The current rate of the tourist tax in Malta is €0.50 per night. A maximum of 5 euros can be charged for each additional day of stay. The fees are collected by hotels and added to the main bill. Children under the age of 18 are exempt from the tourist tax, regardless of where and how long they vacation in Malta.

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Back in 2021, amid the Covid crisis, thousands of British tourists rushed to book holidays to Malta as soon as it became clear they would not need to quarantine upon returning from the island. Speaking to Times of Malta, Air Malta chief commercial officer Roy Kinnear said the airline marked the “first day in a long time” that it recorded positive booking activity from the UK.

“We had a very busy evening,” Kinnear said. According to a spokesperson for Thomas Cook, one of the biggest travel agents in the UK, “people are booking Malta in their droves”. “Mostly for immediate travel – as early as this weekend and then into July,” the spokesperson said.

“People of all ages, mostly couples, are booking holidays for immediate travel and are mostly staying in four-star hotels around the island for at least a week,” it said. “Bookings are mostly for July with some booked for later in the summer and into September but it’s clear that people are delighted to be able to head back to Malta and revisit this much-loved holiday island,” the spokesperson said.