Malta's Eurovision participant Olivia Lewis was given a warm welcome by hundreds of Maltese who greeted her on her arrival back from Helsinki, Finland on Sunday afternoon.

Those present at the Malta International Airport cheered and applauded Olivia and showed their appreciation with flowers, cards and charts with words of encouragement.

Malta was accompanied by members of the Malta Song Board and Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech.

Malta Song Board chairman Robert Abela said that many were surprised that Malta did not make it to the final. Other countries also expected better results and to make it to the top ten, he said.

Following the failure to make it through Thursday's semi-final, this was the first time that Malta was absent from the Eurovision final since 1991 when Malta returned to the Eurovision after a sixteen year absence. 

Meanwhile, Malta placed 25th out of the 28 participants on Thursday. The results were revealed after Saturday's final which saw Serbia's Marija Šerifoviæ winning with her song  Molitva (Prayer) for which she garnered 268 points.

Malta only received a meagre 15 points. These were given by three countries which were Albania (6 points), Turkey (7 points) and the UK (2 points). Forty-two countries voted in all.

Malta has to compete in another semi-final next time round.

For more detailed information about Malta's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest see EurovisionMalta.com.