The Institute of Tourism Studies (ITS) has reported the highest intake to date with a 22.2% increase in course applicants when compared to the previous year, Tourism Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli stated during the Institute’s opening ceremony for the new scholastic year.

On Monday, the ITS opened the academic year 2020-2021 with an opening ceremony where it was noted that the Institute has recorded its highest intake to date.

Farrugia Portelli explained how, following over 93% increase in new applications in 2019 when compared to the previous year, this year the Institute had a 22.2% increase in applications than that in 2019. This means that this year, the Institute, has 136% more students than in 2018.

The highest increase in new applications may be seen most notably in the Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree programmes, which have 316 students.

The Institute has also received a high number of applications for the newly launched programmes the Diploma in Climate Friendly Travel, the Bachelor of Science in Diving Safety Management and the Preparatory Course for the Bachelor in Culinary Arts, with 61 applications spread across the three programmes.

The Institute records a 9.6% increase in total number of students following full-time courses, when compared with 2019. Out of all the full-time students, 25% are foreigners from 67 different nations.

Some of these students will be following their lectures online, due to Covid-19 related travel restrictions. This is thanks to the heavy investment in the ITS technological infrastructure, which will also be used by all other students since certain lectures may be attended in hybrid way of learning.

“This surely is encouraging for the tourism industry and complements efforts being done during the pandemic,” Farrugia Portelli said.