The Malta Tourism Authority’s Eco-Certification Scheme has succeeded in encouraging hotels to deliver a better product to meet the demand of the ever increasing environmentally aware tourist. To participate, hotels must comply with a number of criteria all aimed at improving the hotels’ environmental performance and increasing environmental awareness amongst employees.

To assist the hotels in meeting the requirements of the scheme the MTA organises a number of training seminars on the subject.  The most recent seminar was organised on the 30^th April 2008 and this was specifically on environmental management in the tourism industry and role of the Eco-Certification.  A number of speakers contributed to the seminar; these included the Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Dr. M. De Marco, John Magri from the Malta Tourism Authority, Francis Farrugia, Chairman of the Malta Standards Authority and Yvette Rossignaud from MEPA together with a number of local environmental consultants.  Representatives from three Eco-Certified hotels, namely the Dolmen, the Intercontinental and the Victoria also presented their experiences on specific aspects of the scheme.  The aim of the seminar was twofold: to provide information and updates on the scheme to hotels who might be interested in becoming Eco-Certified, and to serve as a networking exercise among the participating hotels, thereby facilitating the sharing of positive experiences in environmental management.  Currently approximately 10% of the hotels on the Maltese Islands are Eco-Certified including three, four and five-star hotels.