Inbound tourists increase by 2% over May 2010

During the month under review, 106,887 tourist trips were carried out for holiday purposes, while a further 15,260 were undertaken for business matters. As expected, holidaymakers comprised the absolute majority of inbound tourists, and registered an increase of 3 per cent. In line with previous months, 87 per cent of inbound tourists came from EU Member States. Decreases were reported in the Italian and German markets, while a notable increase was registered in the French market. Most inbound tourists were British. Around 7,000 German cruise and fly passengers are not statistically classified as tourists, and are therefore not included in this estimate.

During May, inbound tourists spent a total 891,394 nights on the island, with an average length of stay of 6.9 nights, at par with the 2010 estimate. Total nights spent in private accommodation decreased by 4 per cent, while guest nights in other collective accommodation dropped by 22 per cent. On the other hand, guest nights spent in hotel accommodation increased by 6 per cent.

Total expenditure during May also advanced by 13 per cent with respect to 2010 levels and stood at €106.7 million. Package expenditure went up by 17 per cent, and an increase was also noted in the other expenditure category.

January-May 2011

Inbound tourists for the first five months were estimated at 481,762, an increase of 16 per cent over the corresponding period in 2010. Results also showed that 85 per cent of all inbound visits comprised tourists coming from EU Member States, albeit a rise of 48 per cent in the number of Non-EU tourists. The UK and Italian markets continued to be the main origins for inbound tourist trips.

For the period under review, the majority of inbound tourists opted for non-package travel; however an increase in package trips was registered. Furthermore, while most tourists visited Malta for the first time this year, an increase in repeat visits was also noted.

On a gender basis, male tourists exceeded female ones, accounting for 55 per cent of the total. The largest proportion of inbound passengers were aged between 45 and 64. These were followed by those in the 25-44 age bracket. These two groups accounted for 69 per cent of total inbound tourists.

During the same period, total nights spent increased by 12 per cent, reaching 3.5 million nights. Nights spent in private accommodation went up by 15 per cent, while guest nights in collective accommodation increased by 11 per cent. In absolute terms, the majority of nights were recorded in hotel accommodation, with an increase of 11 per cent. The average length of stay stood at 7.2 nights, a decrease of 0.3 of a night over 2010 estimates.

Total tourist expenditure was estimated at €356 million, a rise of 14 per cent over 2010. Increases were recorded throughout all expenditure categories. The survey results indicate a slight drop of 2 per cent in the per capita total expenditure when compared to last year, to €739.