| Europe's favourite TV soap and the world's | | | | we don't expect dramatically increased visitor |
| longest running drama, Coronation Street, has | | | | numbers for much longer, overall Coronation |
| boosted interest in the island of Malta, according | | | | Street featuring Malta will be enough for many |
| to a UK based Malta holidays guide. | | | | millions of viewers in the UK to consider Malta as |
| Aired in the summer, the soap ran a storyline of | | | | a holiday destination in the future, and the power |
| two of Coronation Street's characters taking a | | | | of Coronation Street's appeal will outlast any |
| last minute holiday to the island. The episodes | | | | tourist board television campaign because it's |
| featured Eileen, played by Sue Cleaver and Steve, | | | | independent, and they portrayed Malta in a |
| played by Simon Gregson initially in the capital | | | | positive light.' |
| Valletta, before heading to a hotel by the | | | | Coronation Street was first aired in 1960, with |
| Mediterranean. | | | | just a few episodes planned, but has evolved to |
| Their arrival on Malta starts ominously as the | | | | become the world's longest running soap. Viewing |
| island's hotels are fully booked, but Steve | | | | figures in the UK regularly top ten million viewers |
| manages to get a shared room after visiting the | | | | an episode, and as recently as April this year |
| tourist office. | | | | reached twelve million. In addition to reaching |
| 'Despite the difficulty in finding suitable | | | | Malta's prime UK market, additional benefit for the |
| accommodation as Steve had booked last minute | | | | Malta holiday industry would come from Canada |
| flights but not a hotel, the episodes showing Malta | | | | and Australia, where the show is aired some |
| showed the island in a good light', according to a | | | | weeks after the UK. |
| Malta travel guide. ' The timing was good as the | | | | The stories centre around a fictional cobbled |
| programmes ran at the peak of the holiday | | | | street in the north of England, a suburb of |
| booking season, and with millions of viewers it | | | | Manchester, with a pub called the Rovers Return |
| helps Malta to be considered along with British | | | | at one end, and a corner shpo at the other, with |
| holiday favourites like Majorca not just for a | | | | a row of terrace houses between, setting for the |
| summer holiday next year but for the autumn | | | | home lives and dramas of the characters. |
| this year too, boosting Malta's holidays and hotels | | | | Spread over the 47 years since Coronation |
| industry'. | | | | Street first began, storylines have includes |
| The number of visitors to the travel guide's | | | | murders, teenage pregnancies and other issues |
| internet site more than doubled on the evenings | | | | reflecting the real lives of British people living in a |
| immediately after the episodes featuring Malta | | | | big city. |
| were screened compared to normal, and the | | | | Famous actors and actresses who have appeared |
| overall impact is still bringing benefits. | | | | in the soap include Lord of the Rings actor Sir Ian |
| 'Even on the days between the programmes | | | | McKellen, Norman Wisdom and perhaps most |
| being aired we were seeing a much higher volume | | | | unlikely of all Prince Charles, in the 40th |
| of visitors than we normally get', they say, 'while | | | | anniversary edition. |