It’s pretty amazing to see Malta’s beauty get recognised by some of the world’s best-known celebrities.

The latest icons to speak about our tiny island nation’s unending offerings are none other than four Manchester United stars: Edinson Cavani, Diogo Dalot, Hannibal Mejbri, and Juan Mata.

These four footballers sat down with the team of the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) in France for a unique game of ‘This and That’ about the Maltese islands.

Cavani, Dalot, Mejbri, and Mata were asked about whether they prefer Valletta or Gozo, their favourite outdoor activity in Malta, their favourite swimming spots, and whether they prefer pastizzi or the typic Maltese ftira.

There’s a whole lot more that the four stars got into, and you can see it all for yourself in the video down below.

“The fact that Malta is the official destination partner of Manchester United is leading to continuous visibility and marketing coordination on an unprecedented level, not just in Europe but in other markets such as America, Asia and the Middle East,” Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo said.

“This is of sterling importance to pursue our mission in establishing the Maltese islands as a centre of excellence for sports tourism, a niche which is expected to continue assisting in the recovery of the local tourism sector,” he continued.

The initiative, which will see the aforementioned video used in Belgium, was spearheaded by MTA Director in France Dominic Micallef.

“Being well aware of the MTA - Manchester United partnership, I wanted to explore a new avenue of how best to promote the Maltese islands on the French market by interviewing some French-speaking players of the team  Edinson Cavani, who played for Paris St Germain for many years and Tunisian rising star Hannibal Mejbri, who both speak French, were available and willing to share their experiences of Malta and Gozo,” Mr Micallef said.

“We also asked Spanish star Juan Mata and Portuguese star Diogo Dalot to share with us their impressions of Malta. The four of them provided excellent testimonials for Malta. I was happy to pilot this project for MTA as I am sure that the fast question and answer three-minute video, which will be shared on our social media platforms in France and Belgium, will prove to be an ideal marketing tool to promote Malta in both territories,” he continued.

Carlo Micallef, Chief Marketing Officer and Deputy CEO of the MTA added:

“The MTA has always regarded this partnership as one which works on so many levels. Tapping into the multinational aspect of the team, allows us to think outside the box by creating campaigns such as the one launched by our French Office which, I am sure, will continue to deliver positive results from the French and Belgian markets, as we have been seeing over the past months, despite the pandemic. I take this opportunity to once again commend the endeavours of the marketing team at MTA Head Office, as well as those of the team in France for their continuous sterling work.”