Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis highlighted that the number of outbound tourists was now greater than the national population as he highlighted the growing importance of the sector this afternoon.

Dr Zammit Lewis was speaking during the inauguration of the new offices of travel agency SMS Mondial in Valletta.

The minister noted that with record numbers of tourists coming to Malta every year, inbound tourism remained a key economic sector, but also stressed that outbound tourism was growing in importance, with 440,000 outbound tourists - some 400,000 by air and an additional 40,000 by sea - last year.

He argued that a strong economy and the development of new routes which improved accessibility was encouraging the Maltese to travel more often.

The minister described Air Malta as a key partner to local travel agents, and said that the national airline was set to help them through an "aggressive" schedule for summer. It will be operating 155 weekly flights to 28 scheduled destinations, as well as reaching 23 other destinations through chartered flights.

SMS Mondial, one of Malta's largest travel agencies, had been established in 2011 through the merger of SMS Travel and Mondial. Mondial had been established in 1947, and SMS was established three years later.

The company, which has six sales outlets in Malta, forms part of the Orange Travel Group, which also operates travel companies in Cyprus, Greece, Algeria, Tunisia, Jordan and Turkey.

Dr Zammit Lewis emphasised the importance of such international networks, highlighting their role in promoting Malta as a tourist destination.