S.L. 409.24 Art. 2Interpretation. Cap. 409.

(1) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires:

"accommodation" means a room or rooms furnished and

*Vide Regulation 1(2) of Legal Notice 92 of 2026:

(a) item 3 of Category C: Guest Houses of Annex 2 and Item 3 of Category D: Hostels of Annex 2 and Part F of the Fifth Schedule of Annex 5 shall come into force on such date or dates as the Minister responsible for tourism, may by notice in the Gazette establish and different dates may be so established for different provisions and, or purposes of these regulations;

(b) Standard 2.49 of the Third Schedule to Annex 5, Standard 2.49 of the Fourth Schedule to Annex 5, Standards 2.4.12, 5.2.5 and 6.2.7 of the Sixth Schedule to Annex 5 shall come into force two years after the publication of these regulations;

(c) Standard 2.1 of the Sixth Schedule - Private Rented Accommodation in respect of Annex 4, Category E, shall come into force only for establishments in respect of which the contract of sale was entered into after the coming into force of these regulations, unless it is demonstrated that the relative promise of sale was entered into before the coming into force of these regulations. equipped to provide living accommodation to a person;

"accommodation units" means guest bedrooms, suites, or self catering units;

"Act" means the Malta Travel and Tourism Services Act;

"advertisement" means the making of a representation in any form in connection with a trade or business in order to promote the supply of goods or services, including the making of any such representation, any words, letters, models, signs, placards, boards, notices, brochures or devices, whether illuminated or not, in the nature of and employed wholly or in part for the purposes of advertisement, announcement or direction, and any boarding or similar structure used or adapted for use for the display of advertisements and "advertise" shall be construed accordingly;

"all-inclusive accommodation" means a type of lodging offered at a single fixed price that includes, as a minimum, the provision of accommodation, breakfast, lunch and dinner, non-alcoholic beverages, and a range of additional services or amenities such as snacks, alcoholic drinks, entertainment, recreational activities and taxes, without requiring separate payment for each component during the guest’s stay;

"Authority" means the Malta Tourism Authority as established by article 3 of the Act and includes any person acting on its behalf under powers delegated by the Authority under the said Act;

"bed and breakfast" means in the context of a special label as established in regulation 5, a two (2) star, three (3) star or four (4) star hotel in accordance with the standards and criteria as established in Part A of the Fifth Schedule of Annex 5;

"bunk beds" means a system of two (2) or more beds placed over each other;

"catering establishment" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Act;

"collective accommodation" means hotels and other hotel-type accommodation establishments, which are offered to the public against payment, and which accommodation includes, but is not limited to hotels, tourist villages, guest houses, hostels, that require a licence issued by the Authority in order to operate, and "collective accommodation establishment" and "collective accommodation operations" shall be construed accordingly;

"complete application" means an application which is deemed to be complete when the Authority is in receipt of a complete filled-in application form, together with all the documentation required to be submitted with the applicable form, and as validated by the Authority accordingly;

"Eco Certification" means a certificate issued by any internationally renowned entity as the Authority may recognize and publish officially from time to time;

"enforcement notice" shall have the same meaning assigned to it in article 41 of the Act;

"farmhouse" means any property used for the accommodation of tourists, which is entirely self-contained and has sleeping, cooking, and dining facilities, built and finished in such a way as to represent a typical Maltese farmhouse, generally furnished in a rustic style and located in a village or rural setting;

"guest" means a person who is provided with accommodation at a hotel, tourist village, guest house, hostel, holiday premises, lodging house or other premises used for the provision of accommodation to tourists, or who has such accommodation placed at his disposal in any such place;

"guest house" shall have the same meaning assigned to it in the Act and, more specifically, in accordance with the standards established in the Third Schedule to Annex 5;

"hostel" shall have the same meaning assigned to it in the Act and, more specifically, in accordance with the standards established in the Fourth Schedule of Annex 5;

"hotel" shall have the same meaning assigned to it in the Act and, more specifically, in accordance with the classification standards established in the First Schedule of Annex 5;

"incomplete application" means an application which is not deemed as such where either the Authority is not in receipt of all the information or documentation required to be submitted with the application form, or where such information or documentation is incorrect, or where the application form is incomplete or not filled in correctly;

"licence" or "operating licence" means a licence issued in accordance with these regulations by the Authority;

"licensee" means the person, natural or legal in whose name the licence is issued;

"operator" shall have the same meaning assigned to it in the Act;

"resident host" means a person in whose name a licence for the accommodation of tourists has been issued and who resides in any building, howsoever described, not being a hotel, tourist village, guesthouse, hostel or short-let rented accommodation, which is normally used for the permanent or temporary habitation of the licensee and is used or intended to be used, for the concurrent habitation of guests;

"special label" means a label of a particular type assigned by the Authority to a hotel, tourist village, guesthouse or farmhouse to distinguish between different types of accommodation according to their main use or character;

"self-catering unit" means an accommodation unit within a tourism accommodation establishment for use by guests which, in addition to the facilities and furnishings of a hotel room, also provides kitchen, living and dining facilities in accordance with the standards established in Part 2 of the First Schedule to Annex 5;

"Tourism Policy Compliance Certificate" means the preliminary compliance certificate issued by the Authority with regard to applications for new collective accommodation insofar as extensions, modifications or redevelopments or for reclassification of existing collective accommodation;

"tourism operation" shall have the same meaning assigned to it in the Act and "operator" shall be construed accordingly;

"tourist" means any person who is travelling to and staying in places outside his usual environment for not more than one (1) consecutive year for leisure, business and other personal purposes, other than for the purpose of taking up employment or establishing a business in the place visited;

"tourist village" means any building, howsoever described, which shall not exceed the maximum height of three

(3) storeys, is detached from any other building and is situated within an extensive and defined parcel of land in which accommodation, ancillary services and amenities are provided by a common management, and which comprises accommodation units consisting of guest bedrooms, suites or self-catering units, or any combination thereof, and in which sport and, or recreational activities are offered and other outdoor facilities are provided.

(2) Unless the context otherwise requires, words and phrases used in these regulations which are not defined in this regulation shall have the same meaning as is assigned to them in the Act.