The Malta Tourism Authority’s German office has set about to promote the Maltese Islands via public transport in the capital throughout 2016. The Berlin public transport double-decker buses will bring a sunny Malta mood to Germany’s capital, with the buses displaying various images and offers. This 12-month promotional initiative will run till the end of January 2017.

Throughout the campaign, the buses will be decorated with photos of the Maltese Islands, in particular stunning images portraying some of the destination’s most popular locations as well as attractive flight offers by Air Malta and Ryanair.

These branded buses will be operating across various routes and this means that the Islands will be visible around the vast city of Berlin, which is Germany’s largest city with a population of circa 3.5 million citizens.

This initiative is expected to provide additional exposure to the Maltese Islands, particularly since this campaign will be ongoing during the ITB fair in March, which is the world’s leading tourism event and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to Berlin.

In order to further the scope of this promotion, the MTA German office developed an interactive online contest, consisting of a ‘bus spotting’ competition on Facebook. To participate, people can send in their photos of one of the buses bearing the Malta advertising spotted on the streets of Berlin, and they will be in with a chance to win a hamper containing Maltese and Gozitan delicacies.

This is just one of the advertising campaigns which are being conducted by the MTA office in Germany. Others include Malta inserts in popular magazines such as ‘Der Spiegel’ and in the trade magazine ‘FVW’, and sponsorship of sports teams in Germany.

Earlier this week, MTA CEO Mr Paul Bugeja and Chief Marketing Officer Mr Carlo Micallef travelled to Frankfurt for meetings with MTA representatives in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, during which plans for Summer 2016 and Winter 2016/17 were reviewed in detail.

Mr Bugeja commented that: “Our offices are undertaking a number of initiatives to promote the Maltese Islands and what we have to offer more intensively. 2015 was a very successful year for the Maltese Islands in general, with an increase of 5.4%, and we are striving to make 2016 another positive year.” Mr Bugeja concluded by saying “We believe that with improved connectivity and promotional initiatives such as this one, the German-speaking market has the potential to grow further in the months and years to come”.