€1.5 million worth of Government COVID vouchers redeemed in first week of scheme

A total of €1,430,895 worth of COVID Government vouchers have been redeemed in the first week of the scheme, launched on 7th June.

As such, €765,525 were redeemed from the red vouchers, which may be utilised at restaurant, accommodation and MTA licensed establishments, while €665,370 were redeemed from the blue vouchers pertaining to retail and services.

Local residents have until 15th September to redeem their vouchers, which last year were viewed as a lifeline for local businesses.

Following the 4th June deadline for residents to download their digital COVID-19 Government vouchers, worth €100 per resident, a total of 117,485 people went ahead with the digital version.

This means that a total of 328,251 people will now receive their physical copy after a reconciliation exercise carried out by MIMCOL to establish who did not avail themselves of the digital version.

Under the scheme, the second of its kind, all those officially registered as residing in Malta are eligible for €100 in vouchers, including €60 to spend at hospitality establishments and €40 to spend at retail outlets and services.

Economy and Industry Minister Silvio Schembri spoke on Thursday afternoon on the second round of COVID Government vouchers, which came into effect on 7th June.

Up until Wednesday, 16th June, 80,000 physical vouchers had already been disbursed.

Minister Schembri also revealed that through the vouchersmimcol.com website, residents can track the status of their physical vouchers. This allows users to ascertain whether the vouchers are out for delivery, or, in the case of a missed delivery, the service would indicate that a user should visit their closest MaltaPost branch. One can also obtain a distribution reference number in case of a missed delivery, which would be required when picking up vouchers from the post office.

Similar to last year’s voucher programme, MaltaPost delivers them via registered mail, while an individual at a residence may present their ID and sign for more persons in the same household.

In case of nobody being present at home, MaltaPost would then leave a delivery note and residents would them have to collect the vouchers from their nearest MaltaPost branch using the reference number and their ID card.

A total of 6,479 establishments are accepting this second round of vouchers, 3,834 providing retail and services (blue voucher), 2,473 restaurants and accommodation (red voucher), while a further 172 establishments are providing both services and thus accepting both vouchers.

In terms of new businesses accepting the vouchers, whether because they launched this year or because they did not take part in the 2020 edition, 386 are retail, 264 restaurants and/or accommodation and 40 providing both services.