Tourism in January up by 5.7% over 2011

Tourstat data for January estimates inbound tourism at 64,887, an increase of 5.8 per cent over last year. Total nights spent advanced by 16.8 per cent, bringing the average length of stay to 9.1 nights.

Tourstat survey results indicate that 55,811 tourists visited Malta for holiday purposes in January, accounting for the majority of tourism trips.

A drop was registered in the number of business tourists, as shown in Table 1. Furthermore, first-time visitors made up the absolute majority of inbound tourists, albeit a decrease of 4 per cent when compared to last year. Non-package travel was higher than package travel, with an estimated 53 per cent of departing tourists opting for this kind of travel. Tourists travelling by air went up by 6 per cent, while those travelling by sea dropped by 19 per cent.

Inbound tourists from EU Member States went up by 6 per cent, while tourists from outside the EU remained practically unchanged when compared to last year. The UK remained Malta's main tourism market, with a share of 28 per cent of total inbound trips, and was followed by Italy at 19 per cent.

Major tourism markets remained practically unchanged when compared to last year, except for the British and German markets, which advanced by 9 and 20 per cent respectively.

Results also show that male tourists exceeded their female counterparts, accounting for 55 per cent of the total. The largest proportions of inbound tourists were between 45 and 64 years of age and were followed by those within the 25-44 age bracket. Meanwhile, a substantial increase (43 per cent) was noted in the number of tourists aged 65 and over. Total nights spent went up by 17 per cent, reaching 592,786. In absolute terms, the majority of guest nights were spent in collective accommodation establishments. However, in percentage terms, a substantial increase was noted in the number of tourists residing in private accommodation. The average length of stay stood at 9.1 nights, up by 0.8 when compared to January 2012.

During the reference month, total expenditure of departing tourists was estimated at €52.9 million, a growth of 8 per cent over the corresponding month last year. Expenditure on package travel went up by 5 per cent, while non-package expenditure decreased by 4 per cent.