A series of outdoor regional advertising campaigns has been launched in the UK to strengthen existing air routes to Malta and to increase the awareness of new routes, the Malta Tourism Authority said.

The June outdoor campaigns, in Newcastle, Birmingham and Manchester, involve large advertisements on taxis (Newcastle) and buses (Birmingham and Manchester) as well as 40 second video adverts on large outdoor LCD display screens (Birmingham).

The authority said it was also enhancing national press advertising through additional promotional activity including radio and large screen promotions that create a dramatic audio-visual impact in specific regions.

A local radio and a bus campaign running through the cities of Manchester and Birmingham promoting Air Malta's routes has been used to heighten awareness, whereas large-screen promotions in the heart of Birmingham are showing MTA's latest commercial TV adverts on rotation.

To promote EasyJet's new route to Malta from Newcastle, a taxi campaign is running in the city centre with imagery both inside and outside the cabs. A regional on-line marketing campaign in all new route regions: Newcastle, Edinburgh and Bristol, has been undertaken to directly target potential local consumers with offers and information on Malta. Online campaigns have also been used to directly target the ideal consumers for the Malta Music Week and Isle of MTV Festival taking place in July.