Malta has once again proved its worth as a thriving upmarket festival destination, as 8,000 revellers chose to make the trip here to enjoy AMP's Lost & Found Festival.

Locally organised by 356 Group, the event is the first and largest of its kind on the island with a jam-packed itinerary that spanned five days across a plethora of venues, including Café del Mar and Uno. The line-up of performers was also unparalleled, featuring the likes of headliners Annie Mac, Armand Van Helden, Jamie Jones, Kolsch and Andy C.

"Festival tourism has become an important and fast-developing niche for the Maltese Islands," says Edward Zammit, who handles MTA's Events Operations. "For the third year running, the AMP Lost & Found Festival attracted 8,000 visitors to our shores, leading to a €7million injection into the economy. This positive result is proof that Malta has what it takes to attract culturally-focused cosmopolitan visitors for short, high-spend stays. This type of activity is very much in-line with our vision to keep showcasing our islands as a multi-faceted destination with lots to offer to a variety of tourist sectors."

356 Entertainment, which is the festival-organising arm of the 356 Group, stressed their commitment to this strategy through the organisation of high-level events of this sort. "From the early days, our vision was to put Malta on the map of the dance music industry," say 356 Group co-directors Trevor Camilleri and Nicholas Spiteri. "The AMP Lost & Found Festival is proof that this has worked. It is one-of-a-kind and it takes huge investment to ensure that it runs smoothly and exceeds the expectations of our visitors.

"The project takes six months to organise and involves a variety of cross-authority efforts to guarantee the effective planning of permits, traffic management, health and safety, and risk assessments. As always, it was our priority to ensure that our guests had a safe and enjoyable time in Malta, and that logistics run smoothly for both visitors and locals. We are very thankful for the support we have received to make that happen, including government, the authorities and our extended teams."

And the response from the festival was positive on all counts, including among participants. Performer Annie Mac said: "AMP Lost & Found was such a wonderful success this year. From the castle event and the pool parties at Cafe del Mar to the new-look Uno, Malta provided us with great venues and locations and, as always, gave us such a warm welcome. We are so grateful to everyone here for having us and we look forward to next year."

365 Entertainment then marked the success of the 2017 AMP Lost & Found by announcing that the festival will be held again in 2018 and that discussions have already begun. "We believe in the value of festival tourism and will keep investing in it, while also looking for other festival opportunities for our islands," Mr Camilleri and Mr Spiteri added.