A Love2shop voucher offer, launched in January, will now continue into February, with bookings of more than £500 qualifying for an incentive.

In addition, Belleair and the Malta Tourism Authority are holding a prize draw to win tickets to see Manchester United play Manchester City on 7 March and West Ham on 9 May, with one place in the draw for every passenger booked.

Since July last year, Belleair has been run by Nigel Borg-Cardona and Steve Spiteri, two former employees who also run direct-sell Malta specialist Chevron Air Holidays.

“There aren’t too many 50-year-old tour operators left,” said Borg-Cardona. “Travel agents know that if they want experts on Malta, Belleair is the place to go.”

He added although Malta still accounted for around 80% of Belleair sales, it now offers other destinations and sells cruise.

Borg-Cardona said the company had experienced “a few difficult years” due to ownership changes, but added: “We’re hoping now we’ve got it back again we can start to generate interest. We’ve virtually doubled numbers this year.”

Since the takeover, Belleair has moved from its Peterborough base to Chevron’s offices in Windsor. “We’ll continue to do what we do best; Chevron is mostly direct-sell, and we very much want to grow the travel agency business,” said Borg-Cardona.

He added Belleair would be spending “quite a lot” on marketing in conjunction with the Malta Tourism Authority and would hold local events for the trade.