Soap Boosts 2008 Malta Vacation Bookings

Europe's favourite TV soap and the world's longest running drama, Coronation Street, has boosted interest in the island of Malta, according to a UK based Malta holidays guide.

Aired in the summer, the soap ran a storyline of two of Coronation Street's characters taking a last minute holiday to the island. The episodes featured Eileen, played by Sue Cleaver and Steve, played by Simon Gregson initially in the capital Valletta, before heading to a hotel by the Mediterranean.

Their arrival on Malta starts ominously as the island's hotels are fully booked, but Steve manages to get a shared room after visiting the tourist office.

'Despite the difficulty in finding suitable accommodation as Steve had booked last minute flights but not a hotel, the episodes showing Malta showed the island in a good light', according to a Malta travel guide. ' The timing was good as the programmes ran at the peak of the holiday booking season, and with millions of viewers it helps Malta to be considered along with British holiday favourites like Majorca not just for a summer holiday next year but for the autumn this year too, boosting Malta's holidays and hotels industry'.

The number of visitors to the travel guide's internet site more than doubled on the evenings immediately after the episodes featuring Malta were screened compared to normal, and the overall impact is still bringing benefits.

'Even on the days between the programmes being aired we were seeing a much higher volume of visitors than we normally get', they say, 'while we don't expect dramatically increased visitor numbers for much longer, overall Coronation Street featuring Malta will be enough for many millions of viewers in the UK to consider Malta as a holiday destination in the future, and the power of Coronation Street's appeal will outlast any tourist board television campaign because it's independent, and they portrayed Malta in a positive light.'

Coronation Street was first aired in 1960, with just a few episodes planned, but has evolved to become the world's longest running soap. Viewing figures in the UK regularly top ten million viewers an episode, and as recently as April this year reached twelve million. In addition to reaching Malta's prime UK market, additional benefit for the Malta holiday industry would come from Canada and Australia, where the show is aired some weeks after the UK.

The stories centre around a fictional cobbled street in the north of England, a suburb of Manchester, with a pub called the Rovers Return at one end, and a corner shpo at the other, with a row of terrace houses between, setting for the home lives and dramas of the characters.

Spread over the 47 years since Coronation Street first began, storylines have includes murders, teenage pregnancies and other issues reflecting the real lives of British people living in a big city.

Famous actors and actresses who have appeared in the soap include Lord of the Rings actor Sir Ian McKellen, Norman Wisdom and perhaps most unlikely of all Prince Charles, in the 40th anniversary edition.

The Malta holidays industry hope for a return visit before another 40 years go by!