EDGE Venues

Hilton Malta has done well to achieve the following:

• Trip Advisor Travellers’ Choice ‘Best Luxury’ Award for 3 consecutive years between 2006 & 2009

• Trip Advisor certificate of excellence of 4.5 stars out of 5 in 2010

• Rated one of the top 10 favourite hotels in the world 2010 by Travel Republic

• Awarded the Travelife Gold Award of sustainability

• Award in the accommodation category at the 2011 The Visions/DestiNet European Sustainable Tourism Awards

For the seventh time in succession, Vienna has topped the world-wide rankings as a destination for international congresses. The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) published its 2011 congress statistics almost simultaneously with a ceremony held at the City Hall by the City of Vienna to honor Vienna’s 2011 congress organizers. This produced an unexpected bombshell during the celebrations.

Vienna almost seems to have taken out a permanent lease on first place as a destination for international congresses. According to the ICCA statistics, the Austrian capital staged 181 such events in 2011, putting it at the top of the worldwide league for the seventh time in succession. It was followed by Paris with 174 international congresses and Barcelona with 150. The other cities in the top ten were Berlin (147), Singapore (142), Madrid (130), London (115), Amsterdam (114), Istanbul (113) and Beijing (111). Austria was in 10th place in the countries ranking, headed – also almost by tradition – by the USA (759). Not fewer than 68% of Austria’s 267 international congresses took place in Vienna. The best placed countries after the USA were Germany (577) and Spain (463).

Selmun Palace Hotel should be sold by the end of the year following an international advertising campaign to be launched this week, Air Malta said.

The hotel, a subsidiary of Air Malta, was closed down last year after accumulating debts of €13 million. The decision formed part of the national airline’s restructuring plan, which led to the dismissal of some 58 hotel employees.

In collaboration with the government, the airline will step up efforts through the international advertising campaign, Air Malta said in a statement.

“The campaign is aimed to communicate the full potential of this property and inject new vigour in this sale process after previous attempts did not match the airline’s expectations,” Air Malta said.

Prospective bidders will be given the opportunity to acquire the 154-roomed property and a temporary grant of the adjacent 18th century castle.

Air Malta appointed CBRE Hotels – a leading international group that specialises in the hospitality industry and provides sales advisory services – to manage the marketing and sale of the property.