Well done to the MTA...we got so hassled when we were in Bugibba/Qawra...we even saw one lass driver her car down the road, spot her "victims" and screech her car to a halt, jump out and pounce. on this quite elderly couple.

It was embarrasing that most of the timeshare touts were British..and it was intensely annoying.

Malta have been talking about clamping down on the timeshares for years and I'm so glad at last it's been done. I think Bugibba and Qawra are the worst areas and you see the same faces every year pestering you, in fact they even recognised us and said 'Are you here again'. You tell them you're not interested but they still keep following you which is so frustrating. As Val said they're mostly English but there are a few Maltese around the Square in Bugibba.

There are only two sources for this so far, the link I provided and also this which is aimed at timeshare developers.

We've been a few times and always end up in Bugibba/Qawra and to be honest - if you want to call timeshare touts there abusive, you ain't seen nothing until you've been around the harbour at Paphos, Cyprus!

The touts there are the most obnoxious we've come across and there is no regulations or so it seems...

At least in Malta the touts have to display their ID's openly and you can see straight away what they are... We've never had a problem if we tell them we're not interested. But, on a rainy day we've visited the odd timeshare resort and got paid to go inside.

That's not a problem for us! 50EUR in our pocket is very nice, thank you

i think i may have posted this before on a discussion about timeshare but it may be worth repeating. if you get bothered by ANY sales people or surveys etc just hand them a card with this printed on and by the time they finish reading you are long gone.

(hoping the picture shows up now!)

Very funny Pete, I would love to see there faces when you give them that
Dave.

Good to hear this they drive me insane.

We were there last week and came home monday (sob) but the time share sellers were the worst we have ever known. Walking down to Qawra sea front we were stopped 5 times. My other half was fed up by his time and jhen he said to the time share we come away for a holiday not to be stalked by you lot we were told to f*** off back to England if we didn't like it.

Funny one though one guy screeches up to us and offers to take us down to the market on Qawra front. There isn't a market on Qawra front we say ...yes there is he says. Told him if he can take us to it there and then we would buy every room in the hotel he is trying o do business for. He got in his jeep and drove off...we didn't get the lift.

was he trying to do business for the Bella Vista by any chance? (hotel Hells Bells as we called it).
We encountered the same bloke 3 times in the first 24 hours offering to save us taxi fare, bus fare and even our poor old aching feet..until Rob told him rather politely that if he didnt stop hassling us he would be aching all over....

My son usually speaks to them in Welsh, works like a charm, I'm sure one day he will meet a Timeshare tout who speaks welsh but it has not happened yet.

Hi Karen,

We've used that tactic before and although I'm not absolutely fluent it does work!

However, beware!! We were in a shop in Tunisia earlier this year and my son Rhys was talking in Welsh to me. To my absolute surprise the Arab bloke behind the counter spoke back - in perfect Welsh! I was intrigued to find out how he could speak Welsh and although he'd told us he'd never been out of his Country, he said he'd picked it up off Welsh tourists. Believe me we were impressed especially knowing how hard a language Welsh is to learn,

Trev

I know I am late to the party but this is fantastic news.

Me and my partner went to Malta for the Easter holidays back in 2006 (beautiful place by the way!), as soon as we got out of the airport and in to the car park we were approached by a Timeshare salesman... 6 months later we had invested.

We had ongoing issues with solicitors/resorts/landlords for months! It was honestly a nightmare.

Just last month we managed to resolve our issues and had our Timeshare Release by a company named Mercantile Claims. I honestly can't thank them enough they were so helpful from start to finish. I would highly recommend.

I would also recommend Malta to anybody looking for a nice holiday away. We stayed near Cafe Del Mar, it was absolutely gorgeous.

It you have had any more information since this post please let me know Karen
Thanks.

Hi Karen
Welcome to HT!