Inbound tourists up by 3.9% in first six months

Malta registers an increase of 45,724 tourists in the first six months • Tourist expenditure stands at €883.5 million

More tourists came to Malta in the first half of 2019
More tourists came to Malta in the first half of 2019

Inbound tourists have increased by 3.9% in the first half of 2019, when compared to the same period last year, figures released by the National Statistics Office show.

There were 1.2 million tourist trips between January and June, an increase of 45,724 tourists.

While tourists who arrived by air travel increased by 3.8%, tourists arriving to the country by sea travel rose by 9.4%. 

The largest increase of inbound tourists was female, with 34,667 more passengers, which translate to a 5.9% increase. 

An increase of 11,057 male passengers was recorded, translating to a 1.9% increase when compared to the previous year. 

Tourists hailing from non-EU countries increased by 17.3%, translating to 27,851 more people. 

EU citizens choosing Malta as their touristic destination rose by 1.8%, which translated to an increase of 17,873.

The country from which Malta saw the highest increase in tourism was Hungary, with a 46.7% increase, followed by Spain at 32.8%. 

On the other hand, a 13.8% decrease in tourism from Austria and a decrease of 10.3% of tourism from Germany were recorded. 

The total nights spent by inbound tourists also went up, with a 2.4% increase when compared to 2018, as the total nights spent by inbound tourists reached around 7.9 million. 

While tourists are spending more nights in Malta, the average length of their stay seems to be dropping, as 16.2% more tourists are looking to spend one to three nights in Malta, while stays of seven nights or longer have dropped by 3.8%. 

Tourism expenditure rose by 5.1% when compared to 2018, with the total tourism expenditure for the first six months of 2018 equating to €883.5 million. 

Per capita, the total expenditure stood at €731, a 1.1% increase over the previous year.