Where to Stay for WTTC Global Summit 2026 – The Phoenicia Malta
August 7, 2026
The World Travel & Tourism Council brings its 26th Global Summit to Valletta from 7–9 October. Here is where you should stay to make the most of Malta’s largest-ever tourism summit.
For three days this October, Malta’s capital city of Valletta becomes the meeting point for the people who run global travel.
The 26th World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit is the first hosted in the Maltese Islands, and acknowledged as the largest tourism summit ever held here.
If you are travelling to Malta to attend, your first practical decision is where to stay – and since the Summit is to be held in the capital, ideally that’s where you select your hotel.
The WTTC Global Summit
The Global Summit is the WTTC’s flagship annual event, hosted in a different destination each year – in 2024 it was held in Perth, while Rome welcomed the world’s tourism leaders for the Summit in 2025.
Valletta will host the 2026 edition from 7–9 October, in partnership with the Government of Malta and the Malta Tourism Authority. The programme brings together chief executives, ministers, investors and international media – and attendance is by invitation only and subject to approval.
Stay in Valletta
As the EU’s smallest capital city, Valletta measures around 1km by 600m – and much of it is closed to traffic.
Staying in the city, or at its gates, means strolling to the Summit’s sessions and evening receptions, instead of budgeting for taxis and traffic time to and from St Julian’s or Sliema.
Malta International Airport is approximately 8km from the capital – around 20 minutes by car. Meanwhile, the Mediterranean Conference Centre – the capital’s principal conference venue and once the Knights of St John’s Sacra Infermeria – is just a 15-minute walk from Valletta’s City Gate.
The island’s capital is also the ideal place to spend a free evening. Valletta holds three MICHELIN-starred restaurants – ION Harbour by Simon Rogan, with two stars, and Under Grain and Noni with one each – plus the Bib Gourmand kitchens at Grain Street and Rubino.
Between Summit sessions, there are also St John’s Co-Cathedral and its two Caravaggio paintings, Fort St Elmo, and the Grand Master’s Palace on St George’s Square to explore. Don’t miss the panoramic view across the Grand Harbour from Upper Barrakka Gardens, where a lift and a ferry take you down and over to the Three Cities in under 15 minutes.
What’s more, readers of Condé Nast Traveller voted Valletta the best city in the world in the 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards.
Staying at The Phoenicia Malta
As Malta’s first five-star hotel, The Phoenicia Malta opened in 1947 and sits just outside City Gate, a few minutes’ walk from Valletta’s main pedestrian precinct, Republic Street. The hotel offers 132 rooms and suites, more than seven acres of private landscaped gardens, an infinity pool above Marsamxett Harbour and a spa built around a 16th-century fortification wall uncovered during excavation. Its selection of meeting rooms and Grand Ballroom also suit delegations hosting their own sessions around the Summit.
The Phoenicia Malta holds a MICHELIN Key and a Forbes four-star rating, is Malta’s only member of The Leading Hotels of the World and was named Europe’s Leading Landmark Hotel 2025 by the World Travel Awards.
Five more places to stay
Iniala Valletta: With design-led rooms and suites across restored houses on St Barbara Bastion, this hotel sits high above the Grand Harbour, with ION Harbour on the roof and Essensi Spa in the vaults below.
Grand Hotel Excelsior: Built into the bastion walls on Great Siege Road, the hotel offers outdoor pools, a private lido and a marina, about 10 minutes on foot from City Gate.
Rosselli – AX Privilege: Set in a restored palazzo, the hotel includes a rooftop plunge pool and the MICHELIN-starred Under Grain downstairs.
Domus Zamittello: With 21 rooms and suites, this historic palazzo also includes meeting spaces and a roof terrace overlooking the city’s streets below.
Casa Ellul: A small boutique hotel on Old Theatre Street, this is part of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, with some of its nine suites including private outdoor tubs.
Secure your stay
October in Malta brings warmth without the heat of summer and Mediterranean culture without the crowds of high season – an ideal month to visit.
Book your stay early and directly with The Phoenicia Malta to access the best rates – book online here, email [email protected] or call on +356 2122 5241.
We will be happy to talk you through room types and arrival times, plus make any other arrangements you need before you land, so that you can make the most of your time in Malta.
More information about the WTTC Global Summit 2026 is also available at wttc.org/events-webinars/global-summit
FAQ: Where to stay for the WTTC Global Summit 2026 – your questions answered
When and where is the WTTC Global Summit 2026?
The 26th World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit takes place in Valletta, Malta, from 7–9 October 2026. It is an invitation-only event, with registration subject to approval, and it is the first time the Maltese Islands have hosted it. Individual sessions from past Global Summits have been made available to watch online.
Is it better to stay in Valletta, St Julian’s or Sliema for the Summit?
Valletta would be ideal, as this is where the Summit will be held. The city is approximately 1km by 600m and largely pedestrianised, so most venues, restaurants and receptions are within a 15-minute walk of one another. Staying in St Julian’s or Sliema adds a road transfer at both ends of every day, and journey times lengthen considerably during morning and evening peaks. Valletta also puts you inside the capital’s restaurant scene rather than a taxi ride from it.
How far is The Phoenicia Malta from Valletta and the airport?
The hotel stands directly outside City Gate, a short walk from the top of Republic Street and onward to the Mediterranean Conference Centre. Malta International Airport is approximately 8km away, around 20 minutes by car, and the hotel can arrange private transfers in advance.