Valletta hotels are fully booked as EuroPride is expected to attract 40,000 people over the 10-day celebration which began on Thursday.
“EuroPride Valletta 2023 is providing a jam-packed 10-day programme of activities which are aimed at amplifying the voice of the LGBTIQ+ community not just on a local level but also on an international stage. In fact, many visitors from abroad will be coming to Malta and visiting Valletta to experience its beauty.
“It is estimated that around 40,000 persons will be on the island for EuroPride and will attend activities, festivities and discussions which are mainly centred around the capital city,” said Valletta mayor Alfred Zammit.
He said the Valletta business community reacted positively to such an event and many shops demonstrated their support for the LGBTIQ+ community by placing rainbow flags on their shop windows.
“It is also a positive sign that EuroPride has attracted many tourists to the capital city as the majority of hotels in Valletta have reported being fully booked throughout this period,” he said.
Businesses reacted positively
EuroPride started yesterday and includes 10 days of celebration that are seen as the culmination of a positive journey of bold reforms which have revolutionised the country’s equality landscape over the past years, the organisers said.
These range from the introduction of equal marriage and the approval of same-sex adoptions to the banning of conversion practices and the removal of discriminatory blood donation policies for gay men.
EuroPride is a pan-European international LGBTI event featuring a Pride parade, hosted by a different European city each year.
Malta got the green light to host EuroPride in October 2020 when the bid by the Allied Rainbow Communities (ARC) – a local NGO for the LGBTIQ+ community – won the support of the European Pride organisers.
In collaboration with the parliamentary secretariat for reforms and equality, ARC has come up with a wide-ranging programme of events.
The main event of EuroPride will be a march and concert at The Granaries, in Floriana on September 16, which will be headlined by international pop star Christina Aguilera.