Update | Another tourism record broken in 2011

Considering the challenges faced by the tourism industry in Malta resulting from high unemployment, financial turbulence and political instability in the Euro zone as well as the Libya crisis, parliamentary secretary for tourism Mario de Marco said that Malta has managed to achieve growth in total tourist departures.

“Intense marketing activities by the Malta Tourism Authority meant that despite significant drops in seat capacity on flights, passenger movements registered substantial increases,” de Marco said.

While Malta’s tourism industry faces further challenges in 2012 on both international and local levels, de Marco said that the success of the previous Tourism Plan 2007-2011 will encourage Malta to break previous year records in 2012.

“MTA’s work was instrumental but we have to start the new year from zero, look ahead and continue to work hard,” de Marco said.

de Marco and chief executive officer of the MTA Josef Formosa Gauci held a press conference this morning on what they called another record year for tourism in 2011 in spite of certain setbacks.

“2011 is a record year for inbound tourism with approximately 1.4 million tourists, equivalent to an increase of 5.6% when compared to 2010. Looking at monthly departure figures, our attempts at reducing seasonal travelling have been proving successful with October figures being much higher than they were in 2010 and 2006,” de Marco said.

During the first 11 months of 2011, the number of tourists, nights spent in Malta and expenditure in Malta superseded numbers registered during the whole 12-month period of 2010 which was a record year.

The number of nights spend in Malta during the 11-month timeframe amounted to 11,192,888 which meant a 53,062 increase over 2010.

In 2011, the total nights spent increased by 4.1% and exceeded 11 million. An increase of 3% in guest nights spent in collective accommodation establishments was recorded.

According to the NSO report, total nights spent in private accommodation between January and November 2011 went up by 7% and the average length of stay was calculated at 8.2%. This was down by 0.2 of a night over 2010 estimates.

 The total nights spent during November alone went up by 18% reaching 662,484 nights. Guest nights in collective accommodation increased by 12% and the average length of stay stood at 7.9 nights recording an increase of 0.8 of a night when compared to the same period of 2010.

This was largely attributed to an increase of 11% in stays exceeding seven nights.

Between January and November 2011, 1,357,971 tourists arrived in Malta registering an increase of 21,630 tourists over the whole of 2010 which recorded 1,336,341 tourists.

“During the first eight months of 2011, Maltese registered the second highest occupancy rates in Europe falling behind the United Kingdom but ahead of France,” de Marco said.

Tourist expenditure also increased by more than €60 million over the total expenditure of 2010’s €1.13 billion resulting in a record total of €1.19 billion. 

Total tourist expenditure during the 11 month period was estimated at €1,190 million, an increase of 9% over 2010, and was recorded in all expenditure categories, except for accommodation where a marginal drop was recorded.

Total per capita expenditure was up by 3% and reached €877. 

Holidaymakers comprised the absolute majority of inbound tourists registering an increase of 4% over 2010 with a large number of these being first-time visitors.

During November 2011, 68,260 inbound tourist trips were made for holiday purposes; while a further 10,520 business trips were made.

“During the period of January to December 201, tourist expenditure recorded increases throughout all categories, with the highest percentage increase registered in package expenditure. However, it is important to note that tour operator packages are reducing in popularity as more people independently organise their trips online,” de Marco explained.

The MTA witnessed a number of changes since 2006, particularly the shift from tour operating to independent travellers.

“Package trips for the Malta holiday registered a substantial decrease when compared to 2006 going from 67% to 48% in 2011. Nonetheless, the share of package trips registered an increase in 2011, increasing from 44% in 2010 to 48% in 2011,” de Marco said.

An agreement had also been made between the MTA and tour operators to bring more tourists to Malta over a three year period which has shown successful results. de Marco also added that the MTA is trying to find new small niche tour operators.

Between January and November 2011, departing tourists increased by 6% reaching 1,357,971. This was primarily due to an increase in holiday visits, mainly from the British, French and Germany markets.

“Adding new direct scheduled routes meant that this investment allowed us to tap into markets which were previous unavailable and are now adding to our economic growth,” de Marco said.

During this eleven-month period, an increase of 18% in the number of Non-EU tourists was also recorded.

First-time visitors were estimated at 63% of the total and in line with previous months, 84% of the total number of inbound tourists came from EU Member States.

The main markets were the UK, Germany and Italy.

During the period under review, the total tourist expenditure was estimated at €66 million, up by 15% over 2010 with increases recorded throughout all expenditure categories.

On a gender basis, male tourists exceeded females, and accounted for 53% of the total. The largest number of inbound passengers was aged between 45 and 64 and was followed by tourists within the 25-44 age bracket.

Cruise business also proved successful with 2011 being a record year for cruise passenger traffic and new operations being organised to improve numbers and increase attraction.