February inbound tourism grows by almost 30%

Total inbound visitors for February were estimated at 103,899, marking an increase of 27.7% when compared to the corresponding month in 2016.

A total of 81,706 inbound tourist trips were carried out for holiday purposes, while a further 14,691 were undertaken for business purposes. The remaining 7,502 visited Malta for other reasons, including educational and religious reasons, and health tourism.

Inbound tourists from EU member states went up by 30.6% to 90,472 when compared to the corresponding month in 2016. The majority of inbound tourists were aged between 25 and 44, followed by those within the 45-64 age bracket.

Total nights spent went up by 15.7% when compared to February 2016, amounting to 672,727 nights with the largest share of guest nights (67.5%) being spent in collective accommodation establishments. Tourist nights in private accommodation increased by 24.8% when compared to February 2016. 41,305 visitors stayed for seven nights or more, however, the average length of stay went down from 7.2 nights to 6.5, with 31,848 people spending between four to six nights and 30,746 people spending between one and three nights.

Total tourist expenditure was estimated at €69.9 million, an increase of 20.8% over the corresponding month in 2016.

January-February 2017

Inbound tourist trips for the first two months of 2017 reached 207,968, an increase of 25.4% over the same period in 2016. Total nights spent by inbound tourists went up by 13.9%, surpassing 1.4 million nights.

Total tourism expenditure was estimated at €140.7 million, 14.3% higher than that recorded in 2016. Total expenditure per capita stood at €677, a decrease of 8.8% when compared to 2016.