Tourist arrivals drop by 17.6% in May

A total of 108,279 tourists came to Malta in May, a drop of 17.6 percent when compared to the corresponding month in 2008.

Total nights spent in private accommodation decreased by 2.0 per cent, while guest nights in collective accommodation decreased by 22.4 per cent.

The average length of stay is calculated at 7.1 nights.

Tourist arrivals in the first five months reached 383,915, a decrease of 14.3 percent over the corresponding period last year.

The NSO said the decrease was mostly attributable to a decrease in holiday visits, mainly from the British, German and Spanish markets

Increases were recorded in the Italian, Libyan, and Swiss markets. 89.1 per cent of all inbound visits comprised tourists coming from EU Member States. The majority of inbound tourists chose non-package travel, while the demand for package trips decreased by 11.8 per cent.

The largest proportion of inbound passengers were aged between 45 and 64, followed by those in the 25-44 age bracket. Together, these two categories made up 75.0 percent of total tourists.

During the same period, total nights spent decreased by 15.0 percent when compared to January-May 2008. Nights spent in private accommodation decreased by 4.8 per cent, while guest nights in collective accommodation decreased by 17.9 percent. The average length of stay is calculated at 7.5 nights, a decrease of 0.1 nights over the estimates for 2008. I

Total tourist expenditure was estimated at €267.1 million, down by 12.8 per cent when compared to 2008. Decreases were recorded throughout all expenditure categories.