The Malta Tourism Authority yesterday announced that it has purchased airtime for “Malta” spots on CNN, which is expected to target a viewership of 118 million households across 95 countries.

The advertising campaign cost US$1 million (Lm429,300) and will hit markets in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, said MTA chairman Romwald Lungaro Mifsud yesterday.

Mr Lungaro-Mifsud said that through the restructuring process, the MTA managed to put into place a more cost-effective structure both locally and abroad.

“This can be seen in the fact that whereas in 2004 the MTA spent 60 per cent of its budget on advertising and marketing and 40 per cent on administration and operational costs; this year it is projecting to spend 72 per cent on the former and 28 per cent on the latter,” said Mr Lungaro Mifsud.

He said that in real terms, this meant an increase of Lm1.7 million in advertising and marketing and a decrease of around Lm900,000 in operational costs over two years.

Mr Lungaro Mifsud added that out of the 118 million CNN viewers, there are only 1.5 million who see it in a hotel – the absolute majority of around 98 per cent watch it at home.

“At first, the adverts will be aired during prime time programming, and following a break for the summer, in addition, we will be sponsoring the CNN Weather Report with a 10-second spot before and after the report; hence during the day,” he said.

Apart from this, Malta will obtain the added value of the same sponsorship being present on the weather page of www.cnn.com – till January 2007.

The filming and production of the adverts was carried out by a CNN crew which filmed various actors at numerous spots of interest around Malta and Gozo.

The adverts take a very direct approach with the actors speaking directly to the consumer on behalf of the attraction being aired.

However, the MTA chairman said that while the adverts were of good quality and equally focused on the positive aspects of Maltese history, tradition, culture and hospitality, the whole country needed to pull its socks up and offer a better service.

“We must collectively improve the product we are offering and in particular, people should report to the MTA when they see establishments offer a bad service,” he said. Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech was also present for the launch.