Hotels record steep drop in February arrivals

Arrivals in hotels in February dropped by 14.1 percent compared to the same month last year, while total nights spent decreased by 13 percent over the corresponding month in 2008, the NSO said today.

It said that total arrivals numbered 65,080 of whom 73.8 percent were non-residents. The total nights spent in the hotels was 388,292, a drop of 13 percent, with the steepest drops being in the four and three star categories. The average length of stay as six nights.

Bed stock totalled 36,742, an increase of 0.5 percent from February 2008. On an annual basis, the net use of bed places went down by 3.1 percent to 39.9 percent. Nights spent by non-residents accounted for 92.9 percent of total guest nights.