Schengen And The Euro Will Facilitate Chinese Travel To Malta

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

17 December 2007

Addressing a group of 20 tour operators and media from the People’s Republic of China at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday morning, Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Frendo emphasised that “Malta is open for business with China and welcomes Chinese tourists in our country which will soon be part of the Schengen and Eurozone areas of the European Union”.

Referring to the two-destination tourism, Belgium and Malta, being promoted by Hainan Airlines in collaboration with Air Malta and its General Sales Agent in China, World Aviation Services and China Express, Minister Frendo explained that such touristic activity is facilitated by the fact that the Schengen visa is valid for all the EU countries of the Schengen area. This means that Malta's entry to the Eurozone will allow, from 1st January next year, Chinese tourists to use the same currency in both countries.

The delegation, led by Malta’s Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China Karl Xuereb, included representatives from top travel players in China such as Hainan Airlines CITS, CITIC Travel, Air China Travel Service and representatives from leading media players such as Life Style Media Group and Kai Zhou International Media.

Also present at the address by the Foreign Affairs Minister were Alex Zammit from World Aviation and Jhao Jing from China Express, Air Malta’s GSA in China, Wo Tong Geng of Hainan Airlines, Emmanuel Grech from Air Malta and Joe Bugeja of Globalair.

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