This week, the Malta Tourism Authority office in Italy, headed by Ms Ester Tamasi, won the prestigious ‘Best MICE Destination’ Award during the European Mission Awards in Rome

The European Mission Awards are set up by the publishing house that has been producing and distributing the specialist Business Travel magazine, Mission, online and offline for over twenty years.

The idea of setting up European awards, which focus on business travel, stems from an experience dating back to 2013 – organising the Italian Mission Awards –  and from a desire to recognise excellence at a broader European level. All the winners were chosen by an expert jury which was made up of a team of expert Travel Executives from leading European companies as well as representatives of Providers and coordinated and supported by the editorial staff.

In this Best MICE Destination, Malta was a finalist alongside Cannes, Israel, and Krakow. Upon announcing Malta as the winner, the event host said that “the recognition of the jury goes to Malta for the best leisure location, its air connectivity from all over Europe, for the widely spoken English language and for the favourable climate all year round. Malta offers a range of diversified hotels and charming residences. The organisation of events and meetings in the islands is constantly supported by the organisation with constant activities to promote the destination.”

MTA Italy Director, Ms Ester Tamasi stated that The MICE segment is of great importance for Maltese tourism. The year 2022 marks a strong recovery of the sector, thanks to a continuous stimulus through promotional actions, a highly successful incentive programme proposed – Recovery, Rethink, Revitalise 2021-2030 – and thanks to the archipelago’s characteristics that make it a flexible and smart destination, perfect for tailor-made programmes built on the needs of clients. VisitMalta Incentives & Meetings, encourages the concertation of local operators and constantly promotes the destination to the meetings industry, Italy in fact, represents a key market for MICE in Malta and I am sincerely proud that Malta has brought home this recognition that rewards the destination that arrived in the short list with important competitors such as Israel, Cannes and Krakow. It is an honour to represent Malta in Italy and constantly work to promote it to the Italian market”.

“Once again receiving such an important award bears testament to the tireless efforts of the MTA Marketing Team and the Incentives and Meeting Department in Malta combined with the sterling work carried out by the MTA Team in Italy. It is also the first recognition for VisitMalta Incentives and Meetings following our rebranding earlier this year, through which we aimed to consolidate further the potential that Malta and Gozo have for this important niche, which is crucial in the steady recovery of the tourism sector post-pandemic, “MTA CEO Carlo Micallef said.

“Investing in the diversification of Malta’s tourism product is the essence of a future-proof tourism industry. This prestigious award cements Malta’s prospects in being a natural choice for the MICE industry, a quality tourism niche that we have every intention to invest further on in the years to come,” outlined Minister for Tourism Clayton Bartolo.