Twinning Cooperation to Promote Tourism During and Post COVID-19

St Julian's Local Council was approached by The Islands, a Maltese non-governmental organisation set up to promote cooperation between Malta and Sicily, Italy. The Islands suggested twinning between both of our localities based on mutual points of interest, especially as regards tourism. Tourism is important to both of our localities. COVID-19 was a global pandemic which negatively impacted economies the world over and was a major public health concern. Although being slowly brought under control, COVID-19 is still present in everyday life and countries are still trying different approaches to balance social wellbeing (protecting public health and safety) with economic wellbeing, since the pandemic was especially punishing to businesses particularly those which could not diversify to online or remote service provision, such as hotels. It is still early to fully grasp the impact of COVID-19 on the Maltese and Italian economies, or the local economies in our localities. Going forward, a balance needs to be struck between policies protecting public health and safety as well as getting the economies of European countries back on track, including through tourism. Our project objectives are: 1. Organising a three-day twinning event in Malta promoting cooperation between SJLC and CPA on topics of mutual interest 2. Roping in at least 5 stakeholders (non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations, businesses and public entities) in various activities planned during the twinning event 3. Exchanging best practices among involved stakeholders and associate partners and summarising main outcomes across all activities organised during the twinning event in a project summary document