April sees 2.5% increase in inbound tourism

The number of inbound tourists to Malta in April 2015 was 151,924, an increase of 2.5% when compared to April 2014, according to statistics released today by the National Statistics Office. 

Tourists spent €119.1 million, representing an increase of 3.8% or €4.4 million more over April 2014. Nights stayed by tourists during April 2015 feature a minor decline due to the slight drop of 0.2 nights in average length of stay.

Cumulative data for the period January to April 2015 point to a very good performance with the number of tourists increasing by 5.7% over the same period last year. The number of nights stayed by tourists follows with an increase of 97,000 or 3.5%. 

Tourist expenditure featured the highest increase of 6.8%, reaching €311.2 million, €19.8 million more over same period last year.

All the major source markets feature increased tourism flows with the exception of Libya and Russia generating the expected declines in tourism volumes measured during this period.

Commenting on the latest positive results the Malta Tourism Authority CEO Paul Bugeja said, “The MTA is pleased to see that the ongoing work carried out to safeguard Malta’s connectivity and the positioning of our destination in the overseas markets is translating into continuous growth in the number of inbound tourists and nights spent.

"Today, Aegean airlines started their operations to Malta with flights from Athens, hence increasing the connectivity to our islands. This marks the fourth new airline to start operations this year, with a fifth starting next month”.

Bugeja added, “that most importantly we have managed to register the highest increase in tourist expenditure figures, translating into a constant increase in the per capita expenditure by tourists”.