Tourist arrivals expected to reach 1.3 million by end 2010

Parliamentary secretary for tourism, Mario de Marco announced these figures at a press conference this morning saying Malta had outperformed competing destinations in the Mediterranean with tourism growth rates of 12.5%.

Morocco was the destination closest to Malta with growth rates of 11.8%. Spanish tourism growth rates were of 1.3%, Portugal 6.8% and Turkey 6.3%.

Malta experienced growth in the tourism sector despite a number of challenges, namely the uneven economic recovery, the volatile prices of oil, the ash cloud following the eruption of the volcano in Iceland, which cost Malta 13,000 arrivals and the bad weather this December, which lost Malta an additional 14,000 arrivals.

Figures for arrivals on a monthly basis exceeded the 100,000 mark not only during peak season but for 7 months of the year between April and November. De Marco attributed the record figures to the hard work being carried out by the Malta Tourism Authority in the form of increased marketing and advertising and the introduction of new routes, which began as of May.

The markets responsible for the increase in tourists were namely Italy, Scandinavia, Spain, France and the UK.

Tourist expenditure jumped the €1 billion mark with average expenditure per capita increasing from €782 in 2009 to €850 in 2010, an increase of 22% over last year. A breakdown of the expenditure revealed that a smaller portion of the money spent in Malta went to travel and accommodation and more was spent in other areas such as restaurants, excursions and other leisure activities.

Cruise liner arrivals also grew by 11% to an estimated 490,000. These arrivals are not included in the total arrivals for 2010.

Seat capacity will be further increased next year when Ryan Air begin flights from Blefast next year, Lufthansa operate flights to Malta from Munich in April and Air Berlin begin services from Basel and Nuremberg. Ryan Air is also to replace one destination – Birmingham – that Air Malta pulled out of this year.

In 2011 de Marco said that Malta faces new challenges particularly in the case of the restructuring of Air Malta. “Air Malta is of particular importance as 55% of incoming tourists use the national airline. It is not enough for the company to have a good year next year but we need Air Malta to be sustainable in the long term.”

A 2% increase in VAT on hotel accommodation has been the concern for hoteliers since its announcement in the budget. De Marco said that calculations were still being made of the refund to be allocated to hoteliers and the amount of time it would be valid.