Given the health situation, which had improved in 2021, the French market made a very good rebound compared to 2020.

For the very first time, France occupied second place in the ranking of Malta’s outbound markets with 133,912 French tourists visiting Malta, an increase of +88.9 per cent (+63,038 French tourists) compared to 2020.

Traditionally Malta’s fourth tourism source market after the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany, in 2021 France placed behind the United Kingdom (214,267 British tourists) but ahead of Italy (127,774 Italian tourists) and Germany (96,514 German tourists).

In 2019, a record year for tourism, Malta had welcomed 239,140 French tourists. The 2021 statistics therefore represent 56 per cent of the 2019 figures, the best recovery among all the major source markets for Malta.

During the first four months of this year, from January to April 2022, Malta welcomed a total of 51,260 French tourists which represents 12 per cent of the total market share. During the months of March and June 2022 the Malta Tourism Authority office in France held Digital Out of Home (DOOH) advertising campaigns in French cities where there are currently direct flights to Malta from French airports: Paris, Lyon, Nantes, Toulouse, Marseille and Bordeaux.

A number of French television, radio and magazine journalists were invited to Malta and important joint promotional campaigns were held with major French tour operators. Prospects for the summer months from France seem very promising.

I am very confident that very shortly – possibly by the end of this year – we can regain what was lost on the French market, because of the pandemic.