Easyjet has confirmed it will begin accepting bookings for its new Newcastle-Malta route as from next week, Tourism Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco said.

Speaking during a visit to the Radisson SAS Hotel yesterday, Dr de Marco said Ryanair had also confirmed it would be operating the Bristol route.

On December 20, low-cost airlines Easyjet and Ryanair both confirmed interest in new routes originally offered by the government in October. Easyjet said it was interested in operating a twice-weekly flight to and from Newcastle. Ryanair expressed interest in running a twice-weekly service to and from Bristol and other routes from the UK and Italy.

Contacted yesterday, a spokesman for the tourism secretariat said that Easyjet's flights would start in April while Ryanair's begin in May. Ryanair, however, has not yet said when it would start selling tickets, the spokesman added.

Dr de Marco said Malta was closing the year on a good footing, pointing out that 2008 saw a record number of tourists visiting Malta, reflecting a four per cent increase over the previous year's number.

He estimated that for 2008, tourists would number about 1.3 million, exceeding the total for 2007 by roughly 50,000.

He said the Malta Tourism Authority will be stepping up advertising efforts in various countries. But he was quick to add that the "best advert possible" is a satisfied tourist.