Malta to Malta cruises on board Costa Allegra announced 17/11/2009 Cruises International Ltd, sole agents for Costa Crociere in Malta, together with other stakeholders, launched the 2010 Malta brochure in a press conference on board Costa Pacifica on November 13th.   Mr. Michael Abele, CEO Cruises International Ltd. introduced Costa Crociere’s programs for next year.   Costa Pacifica will be calling Malta with weekly calls between March and November 2010, once again also carrying out partial turnarounds, whereby guests can start and finish their West Mediterranean cruise in Valletta, visiting ports like Catania, Civitavecchia, Savona, Barcelona, Palma and Tunis.   In addition, Costa Allegra will be doing full turnaround operations for a short period between the end of June and mid-July. The plan is to target the local Maltese market, as well as to offer attractive fly, cruise and stay packages in Malta for foreigners. This is the first time that a Costa ship will be doing this type of operation from and to Valletta.   Cruises International will be offering three different cruise programs to the Eastern Mediterranean mainly focusing on the Adriatic and Aegean Seas. Ports and destinations visited are diverse and include both established names, such as Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes and Crete, as well as exciting newcomers such as Sarande, Koper, Kotor, Cefalonia and Volos.   During the press conference Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, Dr. Mario de Marco welcomed this positive news, in light of a challenging 2009. He said that the outlook for 2010 for the local cruise industry is positive, as was confirmed by Mr. John Portelli, VISET’s CEO. All major cruise lines will once again be visiting Malta and this augurs well for the local cruise industry. VISET is already welcoming bookings on its quays for 2011.   Meanwhile Mr. Portelli said that VISET Malta plc together with local handling agents and other partners have been working in coordination to ensure the advent of cruise and stay, following its success in offering port-of-call operations. Costa Crociere was one of the first lines who showed faith in the Island’s potential as a port of call, and it was now showing further commitment with such an operation.    Present for the press conference was also Dr. Angelo Capurro, Sales Director Europe and New Markets from Costa Crociere who gave an overview of Costa’s current operations. Dr. Capurro emphasized the fact that Costa invests money in an experience that can be sold to the customer, and the Malta to Malta cruises will be a unique add-on to its current itineraries.   To discover more visit www.costamaltatomalta.com or www.vallettawaterfront.com   Costa Pacifica berthed at the Valletta Waterfront. Image courtesy of Johann Cardona Schranz. From left to right: Dr. Angelo Capurro, Mr. Michael Abele, Dr. Mario de Marco, Captain Ignazio Giardina and Mr. John Portelli during the press conference.