A broken heart brought Tom Frankenburg to Malta, but it is on this island that his romantic luck turned, meeting an American girl who has rekindled his belief in love.

We met in Paceville – where everything seems to start really

“We met in Paceville – where everything seems to start really. She was with a friend, a boy, and they came up to me and my friend and we started chatting and spent the night partying together,” the 22-year-old from Nottingham said.

Mr Frankenburg was given a free holiday by the Tourism Authority after he posted an online video in which he gave away a trip to Malta he had booked with his ex-girlfriend, who had left him.

The video of him transforming his heartbreak into a good deed – doing something nice, as he put it – went viral.

He must have created some good “karma” for himself, as they say. He met the young American woman on the first night of his holiday in Malta. “Jenny...” He giggled as he struggled unsuccessfully to remember her surname. But he did know she was on an internship and worked in a hotel.

The two spent a lot of time together and Mr Frankenburg ended his holiday by having a dinner with Jenny – a surprise organised for him by thisismalta.tv , the website about Malta that coordinated his trip to the island.

The two young love birds decided to keep in touch and “see how it goes” although Mr Frankenburg is very aware that the distance will not make it easy since she is from New York.

In the video clip, which can be seen on YouTube, he told more than 100,000 viewers that he and his girlfriend had broken up after nine months.

Before the painful split he had spent some £1,000 (about €1,245) on a holiday for two to Malta which was not refundable. So he decided to donate his holiday to a couple who really deserved it.

Some 2,000 people applied and, after sifting through all their e-mails, Mr Frankenburg picked a young couple who had been mugged close to their own home. And as his good deed bounced back, the Malta Tourism Authority, thisismalta.tv and Air Malta joined forces to give him and a friend a holiday.

He arrived on June 25 and left the island yesterday. His sightseeing took him to several places but he was particularly impressed with the Ggantija temples.

“I loved them. It’s crazy to see what our ancestors could do… They are the oldest free standing structures… Wow,” he said.

The dinner was hosted by Azure Vacation Club at Radisson Blu Golden Sands.