The tourism boards UK director, Tolene van der Merwe, took to WTM to hail praise on the trade and celebrate Maltas success.
Hot on the heels of their relaunched trade training platform, Travel Bulletin checked in with Tolene to hear more on the platform's new features and why WTM remains a staple.
"We have updated the Malta Training programme with a host of new features. One of the biggest features is that we are now able to run webinars straight off the platform. So Peter (Green, trade trainer) will be doing regular webinars through that.
"On the training side, we are able to track who has completed the training and work with them from that. Agents can earn different gold, silver, bronze certifications so agents can wear their Malta knowledge as a badge of honour."
Beyond a certificate of completion, the training platform allows Tolene & co. to handpick agents for the annual Malta Academy fam.
"When we come round to picking people for our fam trip next year, we can look at the platform, it really gives us insights into the people that are booking Malta, and lets us get in touch to see whether or not they've visited the destination. If not, that is a really good reason for us to get them out to the destination because it will grow their their bookings and grow their knowledge and awareness. Every year the Malta Academy proves it has the potential to do that.
"Already we are really proud of it and it's done really well for us. Also, with the constant communication with agents, we can see where we might need to do a bit more work."
On the destination's continued appearance at World Travel Market 2023, Tolene suggested that Malta's presence at the show is going nowhere anytime soon: "It is still so important it is from a visibility point of view. For our stand partners, a lot of them don't have UK representation: this is their platform to engage with existing business and create new business. For us, being able to engage with such a range of operators during our contracting time is pivotal."
With so much on offer for agents, why do the trade remain so important to Malta's destination activity?
Tolene explained exactly why: "We value travel agents massively. They are a big part of our success as a destination."
