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International Viking luxury liners start cruises in Malta
Two cruise-liners from the international and highly acclaimed Viking brand will be home-porting from Malta’s beautiful Port il-Kbir this summer, announced Clayton Bartolo, the minister for tourism and consumer protection.
As of July of this year, the Viking Sea and the Viking Venus will be establishing Port il-Kbir as its launch to no less than 11 other destinations throughout the Mediterranean. The ships will be sailing to Greece, Italy, Croatia and even Gozo!
The minister said that the liners would mainly be attracting American tourists, who have already been vaccinated against COVID-19. In the same vein, he added that all the necessary health protocols will be followed by the visiting ships, and all crew members, as well as passengers, will be subject to a PCR test.
Stephen Xuereb, the Cruise Port CEO, said that despite struggling due to the pandemic, the cruise liner industry worked with a number of stakeholders, on projects such as the Grand Harbour Clean Air initiative, in which €59.9 million were invested, with the aim of cutting air pollution in the Grand Harbour by 90%.
After a long process, the Valletta Cruise Port obtained the Safe Travels guarantee from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), ensuring all necessary health and safety measures are not only in place, but observed too.
This is just the beginning, said the minister, as the Maltese government will continue to look for other cruise-liners to establish their starting voyage points from our islands.
