A total of 21 individuals have applied for administrative assistance to transform their historic and unique property into Palazzini, a form of tourist accommodation which would give lodgers a unique and authentic experience.

Tourism Minister Mario de Marco told a news conference held at one such property at 66, St Paul Street, Valletta, that applicants had to have historical property that was in an urban conservation area or a scheduled grade one or two building.

For the property to be eligible, it could not have more than 30 rooms and had to be luxuriously finished.

Through the scheme, the applicants would learn what they needed to apply to transform their property into tourist accommodation.

Dr de Marco said that the government had been trying to promote a new tourist scheme for a long time - Italy and Spain had these palazzini providing visitors with a unique and authentic experience.

Anna Lanczet, from the Malta Tourism Authority, said that the aim was to rehabilitate existing property rather than demolish and rebuild.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.