You are the main character when you land at Valletta Airport! Feel the wind of cinematic history in your hair as you walk where gladiators fought and dragons flew, where Brad Pitt hunted zombies and Tom Hanks both solved murders and fought pirates. Step right into the world of the film and experience the places for real!
Being able to walk through the movie sets from your favorite movie Gladiator or actually experience the iconic alleys from Game of Thrones has developed a whole new kind of tourism in recent years, called set-jetting. Travelers are now looking for experiences, not just pretty photographs. They want to feel the same atmosphere as the movie characters and have often already created an emotional connection to the place before they even get there.
The 1980 film Popeye is a clear example of how a film can create a long-term tourism product. The Popeye Village set was preserved after filming and has now become one of Malta's most visited tourist attractions. The former film set has been developed into a complete destination with water activities, live performances and the opportunity to meet characters from the film.
Malta has been both the main character and supporting role in many major productions. In Mdina, many people immediately recognize the alleys from Game of Thrones, or in Fort Ricasoli where Gladiator, Troy and Assassin's Creed were filmed. The characteristic environments are quickly recognizable and make it easy to understand the desire of visitors to experience them on site.
Walking around Valletta is like walking through a living baroque museum, which combined with the warm weather makes it an ideal film setting. With over 300 days of sunshine a year, a dramatic coastline and several medieval forts, Malta offers environments that are perfect for beautiful images, grand scenes and drama. The stable climate and many hours of sunshine make filming efficient and predictable, which has attracted a wide range of international film and television productions. The result is a destination where visitors can follow in the footsteps of everything from historical epics to modern blockbusters and TV series.
If you want to visit filming locations as a tourist, there are plenty of film-related experiences such as city walks or multi-day themed trips. These not only attract film enthusiasts, but often combine film history with cultural heritage, gastronomy and beautiful coastal landscapes. In this way, film experiences contribute to broadening and strengthening the attractiveness of the destination.
Malta's tourism industry has really developed in recent years and in June 2026 a new visitor record was broken for the island. There is a huge investment in tourism with the hotel industry developing, the airport expanding and new legislative changes and regulations being introduced to improve safety and security for tourists. The strong visitor development is driven by a growing range of air connections, a rich cultural and events programme and increased
international exposure through new film productions in 2026 such as Enola Holmes 3. Together, it strengthens Malta's position as an attractive destination for both sun holidays and weekend getaways.
Read more about filming and filming locations in Malta: https://www.visitmalta.com/en/malta-in-movies/
