Malta: An ideal yoga destination
The Malta Tourism Authority has recently hosted a TV crew from the popular Austrian TV channel, ORF Sports+, so that they could shoot a number of episodes relating to yoga in order to form part of a television series.
These yoga-focused episodes were shot with well-known and idyllic Maltese scenes in the background, such as the Red Tower, Golden Bay, Blue Grotto, Mdina, Upper Barrakka Gardens, Grand Harbour and the Ramla Bay Resort, where the crew was located.
This trip to Malta was not solely based on filming, and in fact, a number of articles were also featured in the September edition of the renowned Yoga magazine, which had a circulation of around 400,000 people for this month.
Following her visit to the Maltese Islands, one of the yoga models, famous in Austria, posted about the visit on her personal blog, which provided the Maltese Islands with additional exposure within the German-speaking yoga circle. This blog entry can be viewed at: https://www.silviaschreibt.de/yo ga-magazin-ein-blick-hinter-diekulissen-auf-malta/
Sports tourism in Malta has been gaining steady momentum, with an increase seen across all sportsrelated fields in 2017, when compared to 2016. Tourists motivated to visit for diving purposes increased by 14.7%, while those motivated by other sporting activities increased by 10.6%. We must also factor in those who participated in sports activities in Malta. Those who scuba dive increased by 8.4%, those that cycled increased by 17%, 32% more people went on hikes and rock climbing enthusiasts increased by a whopping 91%.
The MTA chief Marketing officer and deputy CEO, Carlo Micallef, said that the international marketing directorate is always seeking to provide the Maltese islands with greater exposure overseas, particularly in relation to sports events and activities that have the potential to generate tourism in off-peak months, and in order to do this, the MTA brings over TV programmes, journalists, influencers and bloggers to experience and cover these events.
The MTA executive chairman, Dr Gavin Gulia, indicated that sports tourism is attracting more interest from overseas, and in fact, this year journalists were brought in from Canada and Japan for the Vodafone Malta Marathon in February. Dr Gulia said that the MTA is devoted to growing the sports tourism niche and in fact has already committed to supporting 24 sporting events throughout 2019, and he augured that the fig- ures relating to this niche will continue to grow.
For those that are interested in seeing the episode filmed in Malta visit https://tvthek.orf.at/ profile/Yoga-Magazin/7708946/Das-Yoga-Magazin-Folge-98/13991837/Yoga-inMalta/14379261