MSC Cruises, the largest independent Italian cruise line, will bring 116,000 tourists to Malta next year as it believes the island is a destination that gives added value.

Achille Staiano, MSC Cruises' commercial manager international market, said that next year its liners will make 63 calls to Grand Harbour.

Mr Staiano, accompanied by Norman Hamilton, managing director of Hamilton Travel, MSC Cruises' local general sales agents, was speaking on board MSC Musica.

This 89,600-tonne liner was on its maiden call to Malta and Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech and Competitiveness Minister Censu Galea visited the ship.

Mr Hamilton said that, for the first time, MSC Cruises will be calling to Malta every week next year with two liners - the MSC Sinfonia every Friday between April and October, and MSC Rhapsody every Wednesday between March and October.

Both ships will be operating in the western Mediterranean using two different itineraries and Mr Hamilton encouraged the Maltese to book before November 30 to take advantage of the early-booking discounts.

Apart from this, MSC Musica, MSC Opera and MSC Poesia, which will be christened in Dover in April, will also be calling at Malta several times throughout next year.

Some of the tourists who arrive on the cruises will be benefiting from a week's stay when they book the Cruise and Stay package.

Dr Zammit Dimech said this industry was a success story, contributing about €93 million a year to the island's economy.

Cruise passengers provided good word-of-mouth promotion for Malta - a recent study showed that over 80 per cent of passengers interviewed were interested in returning for a holiday.

He congratulated Mr Hamilton who was the brains behind the MSC's presence in Malta, and praised the synergy between all the stakeholders, which was contributing towards this sector's growth.

The sector was growing so rapidly that at times the island was confronted with a greater number of visiting cruise liners than it could actually berth. With this in mind, the government had plans to increase cruise liner berthing facilities in Senglea and Gozo.

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