December 2016 sees Malta welcome 24,000 more tourists than previous year

National Statistics Office figures have shown that the total number tourist who came to Malta last December was estimated to be 96,395, marking an increase of 32.8% when compared to December 2015, when 72,568 tourists were registered. 

80,443 inbound tourist trips were carried out for holiday purposes, while a further 8,802 were undertaken for business purposes.

Tourists from EU member states remained the biggest market, bringing in 82,518  in December 2016. This in itself was an increase of 34.5% when compared to the corresponding month in 2015. The majority of inbound tourists were aged between 25 and 44, with the numbers within this age bracket reaching 10,384 – an increase of 41% over December 2015. This was followed by those within the 45-64 age bracket, who totalled 7,176, an increase of 29.5%. However, the largest growth rate was noticed in the tourists aged up to 24 (49.6%), with 4,647.

Total nights spent went up by 10.3% when compared to December 2015, amounting to 674,521 nights. The largest share of guest nights (55.7%) was spent in collective accommodation establishments. Tourist nights in private accommodation increased by 9.8% when compared to December 2015.

Total tourist expenditure was estimated at €62.3 million, an increase of 16% over the corresponding month in 2015.

January-December 2016

Inbound tourist trips throughout 2016 reached nearly 2 million, an increase of 10.2% over 2015. Total nights spent by inbound tourists went up by 5.7%, reaching almost 15.0 million nights.

Total tourism expenditure was estimated at €1.71 billion, 4.3% higher than that recorded for 2015. Total expenditure per capita stood at €869, a decrease of 5.4% when compared to 2015.