ce qui concerne le patrimoine, l’histoire, la cul- ture. Il est possible de louer de petits palais privés, ou de privatiser des rues : l’Etat maltais est très ouvert à ces demandes qui permettent de vivre des expériences uniques lors de voyages d’affaires. A cela s’ajoute la plaisance, la voile, la plongée sous-marine, l’équitation, la randonnée. VisitMalta accueille de nom- breux événements, qui peuvent être des évé- nements satellites lors de voyages d’affaires : festivals de musique baroque, de jazz, pyrogra- phique, régates, tournois sportifs. L’offre est variée et s’échelonne tout au long de l’année. With 250 events per year, business trip was booming in Malta before the Covid crisis. 2022 was the year of recovery, with about 130,000 MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Con- ferences, Exhibitions) visitors. Incentives were more numerous than conferences, as compa- nies had not been able to gather their sales forces for two years. The MICE clientele was mainly European, but with a return of Americans, as the dollar was strong. Interview with Christophe Berger, Director of VisitMalta Incentives & Meetings. Class & Relax Lifestyle Magazine : You have just hosted the APG World Connect conferen- ce, what is your assessment of this event? Christophe Berger: World Connect is an event that requires a certain level of demand, and I think we lived up to APG's expectations. We are dependent on air travel in Malta. We were par- ticularly interested in the nature of the theme of this year's event: ‘How do airlines adapt in a changing world ?’ Many of the participants, airline professionals from all over the world, extended their stay, which suggests that they took advantage of their time in Malta to discover the country and enjoy the mild Mediterranean climate. We hope that some of them will come back to us with the project their own conferences. Class & Relax Lifestyle Magazine: What are the strong points of Malta as a destination for the MICE market?
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~C L A S S & R E L A X L I F E S T Y L E M A G A Z I N E - B U S I N E S S - 2023 ~
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