Every month, we delve into the travel experiences of people in the extended WHL Group network. This month we talk to Mark Gatt, Managing Director of EC Meetings Malta, the whl.travel local connection in Malta. Native to the island, Gatt has been in the tourism business since the age of 14, when he started working in hotels and restaurants. He later went on to study hotel management and eventually tourism management, graduating with an honours degree in tourism.
After working in hotels for a number of years, Gatt decided to start his own company specialising in business travel to Malta. EC Meetings Malta later developed a leisure side to the business, which led to the current partnership with whl.travel.
Mark Gatt, the whl.travel local partner in Malta, has a lifetime of professional tourism experience, starting at age 14 with work in hotels and restaurants
WHL Group: Which is your favourite WHL Group destination and which would you most like to visit?
Mark: That’s a tough question with so much to see and so little time to do so. To narrow it down, I would have to say a country from either South America or Southeast Asia. That’s probably because the cultures are very different from European culture and I love change. If you really twist my arm, I would have to vote for Cambodia.
WHLG: What would you never travel without?
Mark: A good book. I find it hard to sleep on planes and can get nervous if I don’t have anything to do. On a plane, I normally get a few hours of uninterrupted reading, which is something I do not get back home.
WHLG: What do you miss most about home when travelling?
Mark: It will have to be my mattress and pillow. Years back, I had a back operation and, during my recovery, it was recommended I buy a special mattress and pillow. Since then I find it very difficult to get a bed that offers the same level of comfort.
WHLG: What’s the most adventurous trip you’ve ever taken?
Mark: It would probably be Mexico about 10 years ago with a mate of mine. All we had was a flight to and from the country and nothing was pre-booked. I remember the flight landed late and we spent our first night sleeping on the beach with our luggage. From then on it was moving from place to place, meeting new people and deciding the next stop as went along, trying all that was offered along the route. Great fun!
WHLG: What is your funniest travel experience?
Mark: My friends and I were in Mykonos, in the Greek islands, and we were all up for a good night out. After a nice dinner, we hit the bars and I remember a certain Scandinavian bar that did pretty well on us. We danced and drank the night away and when we walked out, we could hardly stand. Trying to look for a cab home was not proving to be easy until we found a cabstand with a long queue of people waiting. Much to my embarrassment now, we decided to skip the whole queue and jump into the first cab that came, creating an uproar. The driver had no option but to take us to our place.
Mark Gatt expanded the portfolio of EC Meetings from business travel only to include leisure tourism in Malta as well. Now they help travellers who come both to work hard and to play hard.
When we got out of the cab, we still had quite a walk. Somewhere along the way we came across a tractor, which a friend and I immediately jumped onto. The tractor had the key in the ignition, so we just started it up only to be deafened by its noise that soon woke up the whole neighbourhood. As soon as we heard the noise we jumped out of the tractor without turning it off and ran through a construction site. We jumped over some kind of wall and I fell, badly grazing my ribs against an iron bar. Of course, the alcohol proved to be a good painkiller for the night, but next morning the pain was quite intense. I had a cut that looked like Zorro’s mark. Although it has healed and faded with time I still have the scar to remind me of our foolishness.
All this was years ago and I can say in my defense that I have matured quite a bit since then!
WHLG: What is your scariest travel experience?
Mark: I was in Spain, sailing with my friends from Majorca to Ibiza. With the weather forecast being very good, we set off for a 16-hour nighttime sail. After dinner I went off to my cabin to sleep only to be woken up about two hours later by some rough seas. When I got up to the deck, I could see that the wind had picked up quite a bit. It looked like a storm was coming our way from the west. Sure enough it did and the waves were soon coming from everywhere and covering the whole boat. We were still eight hours from Ibiza and I must admit that these were the scariest eight hours of my life! The guys were on deck and harnessed to the boat, whilst the gals were in the galley feeling very ill. We tried to call for assistance but to no avail. When we finally arrived in the harbour, green in the face, we found out that there was no place to tie up and go to land. After a lot of begging and paying handouts later, we managed to find a place for the boat. We slept for the rest of the day!
WHLG: If you could go on holiday with anyone famous – living or dead – who would you take?
Mark: I would travel with Pope John Paul II – a great man!
WHLG: Describe the best and worst accommodation you’ve ever stayed in.
Mark: The best accommodation was recently at the W Hotel in Koh Samui. It was the last stop on my honeymoon and I wanted to pamper my wife. We had our own private pool and luxury suite. It was really special!
As for the worst it would be a hostel in Amsterdam. I know that there are great ways to travel there but when I think about what I saw in the place we had booked, I cringe!
Mark Gatt (centre) celebrates his wedding with the staff of EC Meetings Malta
WHLG: Describe your earliest travel memory.
Mark: At around age 8, I went to London with my parents. I remember them taking me to the zoo and trying to show me the interesting animals there. I was not interested in the least and as soon as they took their eyes off me I found myself ducking under the turnstile and wandering out into the street. We had been at the zoo for less than an hour and my parents had to walk out after me and find something else to amuse me.
WHLG: Please briefly explain what you think local travel is.
Mark: Local travel is discovering the real beauty of a place. More often than not, people join group tours to see the popular sites, dine in ‘local’ restaurants and stay in chain hotels. Although there is nothing wrong with this style, the traveller is just a spectator. The locals normally frequent different places than the tourists, so in order to get an authentic experience of the destination you need to choose a partner who has his ears on the ground. Don’t just observe; participate!
WHLG: In what ways do you see local travel benefiting the country in which you live?
Mark: Local travel is the most sustainable type of tourism because most of the income goes to the locals. This helps keep the culture and heritage alive, minimises social impact and helps generate greater opportunities for local people, amongst other benefits. I am a supporter of local travel in the Maltese islands, as I believe this is a means of maintaining our traditions, as well as sustaining our economy.
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Malta rocks, a great island for parties and historical sites. A place to visit