English language students travelling to Malta this summer will be handed €10 in vouchers per day to be spent on the island, up to a maximum of €300, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo announced on Friday.
The scheme, aimed at helping the country’s English Language Tuition (ELT) sector recover after a year marred by COVID-related closures and travel restrictions, will have a budget of €1 million.
The vouchers will be able to be spent anywhere on the island that accepts the Government vouchers handed to Malta’s residents and will be distributed starting from 1st June.
Applications for the scheme open on Monday. To be eligible, students must spend a minimum of 15 days in Malta.
Through it, the Government expects around €7 million to be generated into Malta’s economy.
Schools will be tasked with signing up for the scheme, and must submit students’ flight and course details as well as personal details. The vouchers will then be sent to the school for dissemination to students.
Malta’s once-lucrative ELT sector has been especially badly hit by the COVID pandemic, as some schools were forced to turn to the local market to survive the pandemic.
As part of the reopening plan announced on Thursday, the schools will be permitted to reopen physically on 1st June, the same day Malta is expected to start accepting tourists again.
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