The Friends of Venice club was recently set up between Venice and MSC Cruises, the Italian cruise company.

The main aim of the club is to unite all the supporters of the city of Venice who will contribute to its image and to the protection of its heritage.

The presence of MSC Cruises has always been very strong with 48 calls in 2006 with MSC Musica and MSC Armonia, amounting to a total of 270.000 passengers.

When MSC Musica’s sister ship, MSC Orchestra, will join the fleet in May she will begin her cruises from Venice on 2 June. She will then be joined by MSC Armonia and these two ships will call into Venice 59 times taking around 330,000 passengers. aboard.

According to an estimate of Venice Passenger Terminal, every passenger arriving or departing from Venice spends on average E107. As a result, the presence of these two ships would generate a revenue of more than E35 million.

MSC Cruises will sponsor and be linked to the most important events from the Venice Carnival, with the great Competition of the Masks that takes place in St Mark’s Square, to the Historical Regatta, which takes place in September.

Hamilton Travel Co. Ltd of 4, St Publius Street, Floriana, tel. 2124-1242 are the exclusive general sales agents for MSC Cruises in the Maltese Islands.