Outbound tourism down by 763 in January

The number of Maltese going abroad in January was down by 763 compared to January 2009 and reached 17,397, the NSO said today

The main decline was in travel to Italy, which was down by 523, followed by a drop of 146 in the number of travellers to Germany. Visitors to the UK increased by 420 and there was an increase of 131 in visitors to France.

Male outbound tourists exceed females and made up 62 per cent of total.

The largest proportion of outbound travellers fell in the 25-44 age bracket followed by those in the 45-64 category. Together these two groups made up 74 per cent of outbound Maltese tourists, the NSO said.