More bed nights in December

The number of nights spent in hotels and other "collective accommodation establishments" rose by 6.8 per cent last December over the same month in 2005 to reach 375,939, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

This despite the fact that the average length of stay went down by 0.9 nights to stand at 5.2 nights.

The overall supply of bed-places in the Malta region stood at 37,708 beds, a decrease of two per cent when compared to the previous year.

On an annual basis, the net use of bed-places in the Malta region went up by 3.2 percentage points to 34.3 per cent last December. Year-on-year, the average length of stay decreased by 1.1 nights to stand at 5.3 nights.

In the Gozo and Comino region, the overall supply of bed-places stood at 1,786 beds, an increase of 8.1 per cent over the same month a year earlier. The net use of bed-places in December stood at 18.2 per cent, an increase of 2.1 percentage points over the same month in 2005.

The average length of stay was at 2.6 nights, down by 0.1 nights when compared to December 2005.