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- <text id=93CT1777>
- <title>
- Malta--Travel
- </title>
- <history>
- Compact ALMANAC--CIA Factbook
- Europe
- Malta
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>CIA World Factbook</source>
- <hdr>
- Travel
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> Clothing and climate: Malta is largely a tourist island. City
- and casual dress is appropriate. Lightweight apparel for the
- summer and woolens for the winter are required for this
- temperate climate. Rains generally are heaviest from October
- through January.
- </p>
- <p> Health: Hospital and medical care is adequate, although the
- breadth of services available is limited. Community health
- standards are generally adequate. Tapwater is very saline;
- bottled water is necessary and available. Milk products are
- safe, but precaution against spoilage needs to be observed
- during summer months.
- </p>
- <p> Transportation: Flights to Malta are available from Europe
- and Northern Africa. Car ferry service from Naples and Sicily is
- frequent.
- </p>
- <p> Driving is on the left, and roads are generally in poor
- condition and congested. Buses go to all parts of the island.
- One must phone for a taxi, or get one from the few taxi stands;
- agree on the fare prior to entering. Rental cars also are
- available.
- </p>
- <p> Telecommunications: Limited international telephone,
- commercial cable, telex and telefax services are available
- worldwide but service varies; a major upgrade of
- telecommunications capability is planned. Valletta is 6 hours
- ahead of eastern standard time. Direct dialing is possible from
- Malta to the United States, and from the United States to Malta.
- </p>
- <p> Tourism: Malta has several first-class hotels, increasingly
- heavily booked throughout the year. During the peak of the
- summer tourist season, all types of accommodations are scarce.
- </p>
- <p> National Holidays
- </p>
- <p> St. Paul's Shipwreck, February 10; Malta Labor Day, May 1;
- St. Peter and St. Paul Feast Day, June 29; The Assumption, August 15;
- Our Lady of Victories Feast Day (commemorating lifting of sieges in
- 1565 and World War II), September 8; Independence Day, September 21;
- Immaculate Conception, December 8; Republic Day, December 13.
- </p>
- <p>Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, July
- 1988.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
-