Hotels occupancy down 11% in March

Hotel occupancy was down almost 11 percent in March when compared to March 2008, the NSO said today.

It said the overall occupancy rate in collective accommodation establishments went down by 10.9 percentage. Total arrivals reached 75,116, of whom 61,102 or 81.3 percent were non-resident arrivals.

The total nights spent in collective accommodation establishments was 437,980, a decrease of 21.4 percent over the corresponding month in 2008, with the largest drops being registered in the 4-star and 3-star hotel categories.

The average length of stay was 5.8 nights.

The NSO did not give any explanation for the declines, but tourism in March was affected by the fact that Easter was in April this year and in March last year.

The NSO said bedstock totalled 37,082 beds, an increase of 1.4 percent when compared to March 2008. On an annual basis, the net use of bed-places in Malta went down by 10.4 percentage points to 39.4 per cent. The average length of stay stood at 6.0 nights. Nights spent by non-residents accounted for 94.4 per cent of total guest-nights in Malta.

In Gozo and Comino, the overall supply of bed-places stood at 1,736 beds, an increase of 1.2 percent over the comparable month a year ago. The net use of bed-places in March was 22.7 per cent, a decrease of 18.9 percentage points over March 2008. The average length of stay stood at 2.6 nights, same level as March 2008. Nights spent by non-residents accounted for 57.3 per cent of total guest-nights in Gozo .