More tourist departures, lower spend last month

Tourist departures last month are estimated at 178,570, implying a rise of 1.2 per cent over the same month last year, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

Primarily, the increase reflects a rise in the Italian, German and Scandinavian markets while tourists from the UK, the Netherlands and France registered decreases.

Results show that 87.7 per cent of inbound visitors came here on holiday.

Total nights spent dipped by 0.4 per cent. Year on year, total nights spent in private accommodation slipped by 9.1 per cent while the collective accommodation category went up by 5.1 per cent.

Overall, the average length of stay is calculated at 10.8 nights, down by 0.1 nights.

Inbound tourists for the first eight months of this year are estimated at 905,374, implying an increase of 9.6 per cent.

In absolute terms, the growth is mostly attributable to more visits mainly from the German, Italian and Spanish markets. On the other hand, drops were recorded in the British, American and Libyan markets.

In the case of inbound visits, 88.3 per cent included tourists from EU member states. Although there was an increase in repeat tourism, data shows that the overall rise was mainly brought about by a rise in first-time visits, with the latter estimated to account for 70.4 per cent of total visits.

The largest age bracket comprised visitors aged 25-44 followed by those in the 45-64 age bracket.

Total nights spent grew by 5.2 per cent. Nights spent in private accommodation registered an increase of 5.1 per cent while guest nights in collective accommodation rose by 5.2 per cent.

Collective accommodation in the 5- and 4-star hotel categories increased respectively by 5.6 and 4.4 per cent while the 3-star category recorded a drop of 4.6 per cent. The average length of stay is calculated at 8.7 nights, down by 0.4 nights.

Total tourist expenditure is estimated at €732.6 million, showing a growth of 1.1 per cent over last year. The addition in non-package was contrasted by a reduction in package expenditure.

The per capita total expenditure is estimated at €820, down by 8.7 per cent.