Occupancy levels in January down

Occupancy levels at tourist accommodation in January fell compared to January last year, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

The NSO said the overall decline in the use of bed-places by category was brought about by a combination of variables: an increase of 3.6 per cent in the total number of tourist arrivals, offset by a 4.3 per cent decrease in the number of nights spent, and a 5.2 per cent increase in the number of bed-places over January 2003.

The NSO also analysed the accommodation used by residents and non-residents - as opposed to tourists.

The number of residents who stayed in accommodation establishments increased to 7,514 in January 2004, from 7,326 during the same month last year, but the total number of nights decreased by 47.5 per cent, depicting a shorter length of stay by residents. The overall average nights spent was two.

The number of residents staying in Gozo's accommodation establishments decreased by 24.7 per cent when compared to the same month last year. Accordingly, the number of resident nights in Gozo decreased by 27.6 per cent.

An analysis by category shows that for the month under review, the hotel four-star category had the highest level of net occupancy or 38.1 per cent while guesthouses experienced the lowest level of net occupancy, at 7.3 per cent.