Malta

Location and accessibility

Malta is situated in the south of the Mediterranean Sea, about 100 kilometres south of the Italian island of Scilly. In fact, it is further south than parts of North Africa!

Malta has an international airport and its own airline – Air Malta. Other UK airlines, including British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair offer flights to Malta. Also, British Midland Airways have a ‘codeshare’ agreement with Air Malta which means that customers of both airlines fly on the same airplane, reducing costs.

Air Malta offers nearly 30 flights a week to London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports as well as flights to Manchester, Belfast, East Midlands and Birmingham. Together with the flights offered by BA and other airlines, there are about 100 flights most weeks between the UK and Malta, making the island very accessible to UK tourists. The island is also very accessible from other European countries and there are even flights to Dubai and connecting flights to New York.

Because Malta is an island destination it is much easier to count the number of visitors arriving at the destination. They cannot travel into Malta by car for the day! Tourists can only arrive by plane or ferry with virtually everyone arriving by plane. This helps to find out how many people visited Malta and how long they stayed. Much of the information is now collected when visitors pass through the airport.

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There is a range of transport within the island of Malta. Malta has an excellent public transport service and it is easy to get around Malta. One of the key features of transport within the island is the local buses which are cheap, reliable and easily accessible. They are also fun to use and the drivers often provide help to tourists.
Around the city of Valetta, water taxis can be used to get from one area to another. Also, water taxis and ferries are available to get from Valetta to the nearby resort of Sliema.
Being an island, Malta has some visitors who have their own sea transport. Luxury yachts and catamaran boats are often anchored along the coastline or in one of the harbours.
As in many destinations, tourist sightseeing buses can be used to take visitors around the island.

These buses provide audio commentaries in different languages.

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