PRESS RELEASE BY THE OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TOURISM Deputy Prime Minister Ian Borg opens the MHRA Malta Hospitality Forum 2025

Quality and sustainability become synonymous in shared efforts to preserve unique charm of the Maltese Islands

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism Ian Borg officially opened the Malta Hospitality Forum 2025, hosted by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA), in Qawra, on Tuesday.

Under the theme “Malta Sabiħa" (Malta is beautiful), this year's Forum focused on the importance of enhancing the experience of visitors to the Maltese Islands, with discussions on several elements that make Malta more competitive and beloved as a destination.

In his keynote opening address, Deputy Prime Minister Borg welcomed the theme of the Forum, underscoring the need to appreciate, preserve and celebrate the unique charm of the Maltese Islands. “We still have challenges to overcome and areas to improve, but no one can deny that the beauty of the Malta experience continues to attract more visitors, year after year. Efforts to highlight the unique pull factors of our islands are in sync with our strategy, and we stand ready to support all stakeholders in this direction," he said.

The Government is working towards a year-round tourism model which seeks to attract tourists to the destination for its best attributes, experiences and offers. “As we are proposing in the Malta Vision 2050, we are aiming for tourism which acts in harmony with the social and natural environments; tourism which respects landscapes, traditions, people and all those things which can be presented to our visitors as part of a genuine and unique experience. It is such aspects which attract the discerning, quality visitor, who would be willing to pay higher premiums," Dr Borg explained.

The Tourism Ministry and the Malta Tourism Authority are actively engaged in efforts to diversify the Maltese tourism offering, constantly establishing new motivational segments and reasons to visit. In this regard, Malta is enriched with a wide variety of man-made, natural, cultural, culinary, tangible and intangible offers and experiences, surrounded by blue seas and favourable weather conditions, a combination which even larger competitors struggle to put together.

“All of this links directly with sustainability, as it places tourism and all that is worth safeguarding in Malta, Gozo and Comino within the same value chain. Thus, tourism increasingly becomes a supporter of those elements which not only distinguish us, but which we are also responsible to preserve for posterity. In this way, quality tourism and sustainable tourism become synonymous," Deputy Prime Minister Borg stated.

He also highlighted ongoing efforts to reinforce Malta's mix of short and long-haul air connectivity services with new direct long-haul flights, as well as the Malta Tourism Authority's increased marketing operations, with stronger overseas networks and highly targeted digital marketing initiatives.