MTA - Tripper treats
Cultural tourism is far from a new phenomenon; it dates back at least to the time of the ancient Greeks - and probably even before that. Unfortunately, modern day cultural tourism tends to conjure up a picture of Japanese - cameras cocked - trailing...
Cultural tourism is far from a new phenomenon; it dates back at least to the time of the ancient Greeks - and probably even before that.
Unfortunately, modern day cultural tourism tends to conjure up a picture of Japanese - cameras cocked - trailing around ancient piles of stones, being lectured to by a bored-looking guide.
But cultural tourism is much more than that. We in Malta are blessed with our fair share of crumbling ruins, but we can also rightly claim a long and considerable artistic heritage, and it seems to be attracting more and more visitors to these islands.
Improved marketing is making people from overseas much more aware of what events are taking place and when they are happening.
There is now a decent spread of cultural goodies throughout the year, with something for nearly everyone. Early on there is Carnival - and while it may not be everybody's cup of tea - it still brings quite a few tourists into Valletta for the festivities. And while on the subject of Carnival, the offbeat celebrations in Nadur are these days attracting larger and larger crowds to this picturesque Gozitan village at carnival time.
For many years the MTA and more recently the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts have organised a Malta Arts Festival during the summer months, where most of the attractions are held in the open air. This year's version was, in most people's opinion, the best yet.
The advent of the internet has meant that cultural events receive a fair amount of online publicity, and this helps to act as a magnet for an ever-growing number of cultural tourists.
Once-a-year events like the Malta Fireworks Festival, The Malta Jazz Festival and The Malta Choirs Festival all have their aficionados in Europe and further afield. One particular devotee of the choirs' festival told Showtime that he plans his annual vacation around the event.
So far we've talked about foreign visitors to these shores, but we mustn't forget internal tourism. Thousands of Maltese flock to Gozo for the weekends when either the Astra or the Aurora theatres are staging one of their spectacular opera productions. And while still on the subject of opera, the BOV Opera Festival, held annually in the amazingly beautiful Manoel Theatre in Valletta, attracts quite a few repeat visitors, particularly opera buffs from Germany.
We have to acknowledge also that these days we are much better equipped to receive cultural tourists.
The St James Centre for Culture and the Arts has proved a tremendous asset in this regard. A visitor could quite easily spend a whole morning wandering around the various exhibitions that are sited all over the centre. Then, after dark, there are frequently concerts in the St James Music Room, the pick of the newly released feature films in the exceptionally comfortable St James cinema and even live theatre productions at weekends in the theatre-in-the-round.
While we're covering local cultural events that are visited by tourists to Malta and Gozo, let's not forget our village festas. These feasts in honour of the individual village saint are normally held during the summer months and are heavily patronised by holidaymakers.
Oh yes... and we do, of course, have ruins and monuments aplenty. Probably far more than our modest size should permit. The temples at Ġgantija in Xagħra, for example, are understood to be date back to over 3,000 BC and are the oldest free-standing monuments in the world, outdating the pyramids of Egypt by several centuries. Heritage Malta organises visits to witness the extraordinary phenomenon of the various solstices, when a beam of dawn sunlight enters the Mnajdra temple through the doorway and hits the centre of altar inside.
Any cultural tourist visiting the Maltese islands could easily spend their whole holiday on a Neolithic ruins crawl. But I hope we've managed to highlight the fact that we have much more to offer than that.
Unfortunately, modern day cultural tourism tends to conjure up a picture of Japanese - cameras cocked - trailing around ancient piles of stones, being lectured to by a bored-looking guide.
But cultural tourism is much more than that. We in Malta are blessed with our fair share of crumbling ruins, but we can also rightly claim a long and considerable artistic heritage, and it seems to be attracting more and more visitors to these islands.
Improved marketing is making people from overseas much more aware of what events are taking place and when they are happening.
There is now a decent spread of cultural goodies throughout the year, with something for nearly everyone. Early on there is Carnival - and while it may not be everybody's cup of tea - it still brings quite a few tourists into Valletta for the festivities. And while on the subject of Carnival, the offbeat celebrations in Nadur are these days attracting larger and larger crowds to this picturesque Gozitan village at carnival time.
For many years the MTA and more recently the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts have organised a Malta Arts Festival during the summer months, where most of the attractions are held in the open air. This year's version was, in most people's opinion, the best yet.
The advent of the internet has meant that cultural events receive a fair amount of online publicity, and this helps to act as a magnet for an ever-growing number of cultural tourists.
Once-a-year events like the Malta Fireworks Festival, The Malta Jazz Festival and The Malta Choirs Festival all have their aficionados in Europe and further afield. One particular devotee of the choirs' festival told Showtime that he plans his annual vacation around the event.
So far we've talked about foreign visitors to these shores, but we mustn't forget internal tourism. Thousands of Maltese flock to Gozo for the weekends when either the Astra or the Aurora theatres are staging one of their spectacular opera productions. And while still on the subject of opera, the BOV Opera Festival, held annually in the amazingly beautiful Manoel Theatre in Valletta, attracts quite a few repeat visitors, particularly opera buffs from Germany.
We have to acknowledge also that these days we are much better equipped to receive cultural tourists.
The St James Centre for Culture and the Arts has proved a tremendous asset in this regard. A visitor could quite easily spend a whole morning wandering around the various exhibitions that are sited all over the centre. Then, after dark, there are frequently concerts in the St James Music Room, the pick of the newly released feature films in the exceptionally comfortable St James cinema and even live theatre productions at weekends in the theatre-in-the-round.
While we're covering local cultural events that are visited by tourists to Malta and Gozo, let's not forget our village festas. These feasts in honour of the individual village saint are normally held during the summer months and are heavily patronised by holidaymakers.
Oh yes... and we do, of course, have ruins and monuments aplenty. Probably far more than our modest size should permit. The temples at Ġgantija in Xagħra, for example, are understood to be date back to over 3,000 BC and are the oldest free-standing monuments in the world, outdating the pyramids of Egypt by several centuries. Heritage Malta organises visits to witness the extraordinary phenomenon of the various solstices, when a beam of dawn sunlight enters the Mnajdra temple through the doorway and hits the centre of altar inside.
Any cultural tourist visiting the Maltese islands could easily spend their whole holiday on a Neolithic ruins crawl. But I hope we've managed to highlight the fact that we have much more to offer than that.