Malta International Airport, has, in the first fortnight this year, registered an increase of 19.35 per cent in passenger movements, when compared to the same period last year, Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said. 2007, he added, was a record year regarding the number of tourists coming to Malta.

The government, he pointed out, had opened its doors to low cost airlines, ignoring the Labour Opposition saying that this would not help the local industry. Today they were seeing how right the government had been, Dr Zammit Dimech said.

Low cost airlines Meridiana, Centralwings and Ryanair had started operating in 2006. German Wings and Italy’s Volara started operating here last year, and Ryanair had added flights from Luton, Pisa and Dublin.

The introduction of the euro would help tourism, with no exchange now needed by eurozone citizens and tourists being able to compare prices, the minister added. The cruise liner business was also continually improving, and Malta was trying to get cruise lines to use Malta as their port.