Malta Tourism Authority Chairman Gavin Gulia welcomed Javier Zanetti to Malta for his six-day training camp at Luxol Grounds, Pembroke. The Zanetti football training camp will take place between Thursday 26 March and Tuesday 31 March.

In 2014, the MTA signed a three-year agreement with former captain of Inter and Argentina. Mr Zanetti was appointed as the brand ambassador for the Maltese Islands in Italy. Various promotional activities were planned to promote further the allure of our islands in the Italian market.

Mr Zanetti is promoting the Maltese Islands as a sports tourism destination, and is hosting a number of football training camps during the shoulder months. In fact the current training camp taking place is the second one.

This training camp consists of 12 sessions over six days, with two sessions taking place each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

While the first training camp was open to locals, the current training camp was specifically aimed at Italians, who flew down to Malta purposely to train with Javier Zanetti and to benefit from his vast experience.

Dr Gulia was pleased to announce that “thanks to initiatives such as the Javier Zanetti training camps, the Italian market has remained the second largest incoming market in 2014, with an increase of over 12% when compared to 2013. These camps are also providing a helping hand in attracting a number of foreign tour operators who would be interested in bringing incentive groups to Malta”.