The Ministry of Tourism this morning welcomed record tourism arrival figures for April, May and June and said that the government would redouble its efforts to consolidate such achievements and improve them further, even though many of  Malta's source markets were in recession.

The National Statistics Office said this morning that a record 133,659 tourists came to Malta in May, hard on the heels of a record for April.

Furthermore, MIA reported that passenger traffic in June was up by 8.4% to a record 374,770 people (see separate stories).

The Tourism Ministry paid tribute to all those involved in these successes. It said that among the factors for this success was improved accessibility, with the number of air routes to Malta having been increased from 58 in 2008 to the current 81.

Furthermore, the Malta Tourism Authority  had improved its marketing, particularly in the areas where the new routes were introduced.

The government, meanwhile, had improved the product through various infrastructural  projects as well as restoration and embellishment.

Tourism was one of the three pillars of the economy and in such tough times for the international economy, the government would boost its efforts to ensure that such results were maintained and improved, the ministry said.