Arrivals in collective accommodation reached over 126k in April

Arrivals in collective accommodation establishments in the Maltese Islands reached 126,612 last April - up 4.8 per cent over April 2012, according to a survey carried out by the National Statistics Office.

Total nights increased by 8.3 per cent over April 2012 to 681,708, of which 324,156 (46.6 per cent) were spent in four-star hotels.

Increases of 30.3 and 4.2 per cent in total nights were registered in three-star and four-star hotels respectively, when compared to 2012 levels.

On the other hand, total nights in five-star hotels fell by 2.2 per cent.

Last April, the average length of a guest's stay in collective accommodation stood at 5.4 nights - up by 0.2 over April 2012.

At 65.9 per cent, four-star hotels had the highest occupancy level when compared to the levels reached by the other establishments. The largest increase in occupancy rates - 9.7 percentage points - was registered among three star hotels, while five-star and four-star hotels recorded drops of 1.4 and 3.2 percentage points respectively when compared to April 2012.

Total arrivals in Malta amounted to 121,098 - 5.7 per cent more than the figure for 2012. Total nights stood at 664,344, while the average length of stay reached 5.5 nights. During April 2013, the average occupancy rate increased by 0.8 percentage points when compared to last year, to 59.0 per cent.

Arrivals and nights spent in Gozo and Comino totaled at 5,513 and 17,365 respectively. Both figures registered decreases when compared to last year.

In total, there were 145 collective accommodation establishments operating during April, with a net capacity of 17,739 bedrooms and 39,053 bed places. On average, each establishment had 2.2 beds per room.