125,000 tourists in January, up 20% from last year

Total nights spent in Malta increases by 15% in January this year compared to 2017, total expenditure up by 16%

Tourism in January was up 20% from last year, NSO statistics show
Tourism in January was up 20% from last year, NSO statistics show

The total number of visitors to Malta in January this year has reached 124,769, a 20% increase over the same period last year.

According to figures released by the National Statistics Office, 106,114 of the visits were by tourists holidaying on the island, while 14,889 were for business purposes.

The vast majority of tourists - 106,631 - came from other EU member states, an increase of almost 18% over last year.

(Source: National Statistics Office)
(Source: National Statistics Office)

Tourists stay longer, spend more

Tourists spent a total of 848,314 nights in Malta in January, an increase of 15% over the same month last year, and an average of slightly less than 7 nights per visitor. Around 60% of visitors stayed in collective accommodation establishments, such as hotels or guesthouses.

Expenditure rose by 16%, with tourists spending more than €82 million in the first month of this year. The majority of inbound tourists, 39%, were aged 25 to 44, followed by those aged 45 to 64, at 34%.

More men than women visit Malta

A total of almost 68,000 male tourists came to the island this January, more than 11,000 more than the figure for women, standing at less than 57,000.

Air travel was the preferred means of getting to Malta, while 2,000 tourists travelled by sea. Around 87,000 were first-time visitors, but more than 37,000 had visited before.

UK tourists constituted the highest number of foreigners coming to the island, with more than 27,000 visitors, followed by Italy at close to 23,000, Germany at 14,000 and France at 8,000.