An increase of over 10 per cent in tourism arrivals until the end of October means 2007 could be tourism's "best year ever", the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association president, Josef Formosa Gauci, said yesterday.
At 970,000 tourist arrivals for the year so far, the record level may go way beyond the last six years.
October alone has been "the best ever", with an increase in arrivals of 20.2 per cent, according to the National Statistics Office, and the positive trends are persisting into December.
Arrivals were up by 11.9 per cent in the third quarter - the crucial summer season - and tourist expenditure in the first nine months of the year increased by Lm20 million (€46.6 million) over 2006, according to Deloitte's BOV MHRA Hotel Survey for Q3.
Its positive findings - key tourism indicators were significantly up over last year - were revealed at The Palace Hotel in Sliema yesterday.
They showed that guest nights had grown by 6.3 per cent (more than 4.6 million), and by 1.4 per cent on a year-to-date basis over the previous year, while tourist spend had increased by 7.6 per cent for Q3.
Length of stay and bed availability were down (by 6.9 and 3.5 per cent respectively in the first nine months), the results showed, but coupled with the increase in guest nights generated, led to significantly improved occupancy levels, positioning Malta above competing destinations and surpassing Cyprus and Mallorca.
Occupancy levels in the three hotel categories for Q3 have hit and surpassed 90 per cent. In the same quarter last year, they were between 80 and 89 per cent.
Upbeat about the survey results - for years, Mr Formosa Gauci has had to listen to and digest dismal findings - he welcomed the "undisputedly positive" situation, attributing it to the healthy collaboration between the stakeholders and the fact that Malta's tourism industry was built on solid foundations.
"Supported by the correct strategic decisions, it had the ability to bounce back from adversity and succeed, despite its inherent vulnerability to changing market forces," Mr Formosa Gauci said.
These were not altogether positive, though: Malta stood to lose 28 flights per week from the UK by next March due to the situation that had arisen in its core market with the sale of GB Airways to easyJet, he pointed out.
Meanwhile, "impressive" growth was registered in the core markets, with increases of around 17 per cent from both the UK and France, and 4.4 per cent from Germany, cumulatively accounting for 31,500 more tourists in Q3.
Italy was marginally down for the third quarter, but fast-growing market groupings, including Ireland and Scandinavia, have shown strong performances, the survey highlighted.
Both on a quarterly and year-to-date basis, each hotel category reported the highest Average Achieved Room Rates (AARR) for the last six years.
Improved occupancy and room rates meant improved Gross Operating Profit per Available Room (GOPAR), which hit the highest level in the last four years in the five-star category at Lm2,477 (€5,770).
According to the hotels surveyed, the predictions until January remained equally positive and none anticipated a decrease in room rates, which, in Q3, outdid Malta's competitors.
As a lobby group, the MHRA continues to hark about the importance of the product, one example being the road between Joinwell and the Preluna Hotel in Sliema, which was more like a warzone and needed to be done up, Mr Formosa Gauci insisted.
Work was scheduled to start after summer, but it was moving at a snail's pace, and "if we continue at this rate, we have another two years until it is completed".
The MHRA believed that once a job of the sort kicked off, it should be finished within a maximum of a couple of months, Mr Formosa Gauci said.
Challenges ahead also required the tackling of the student issue to be sure that, while the figures grew, they could be controlled to avoid any negative effects on the industry, he said.