More tourists visiting Malta

Tourist arrivals in May were estimated to have reached 129,807, an increase of two per cent when compared to the same month last year.

The National Statistics Office said that according to Tourstat data 106,887 tourist trips were carried out for holiday purposes, while a further 15,260 were undertaken for business matters.

Holidaymakers comprised the absolute majority of inbound tourists, and registered an increase of three per cent.

In line with previous months, 87 per cent of inbound tourists came from EU states.

Decreases were reported from the Italian and German markets, while a notable increase was registered from the French market. Most tourists were British.

Some 7,000 German cruise and fly passengers are not statistically classified as tourists, and are, therefore, not included in this estimate.

During May, inbound tourists spent 891,394 nights on the island, with an average length of stay of 6.9 nights, at par with the 2010 estimate.

Total nights spent in private accommodation decreased by four per cent, while guest nights in other collective accommodation dropped by 22 per cent.

On the other hand, guest nights spent in hotel accommodation increased by six per cent.

Total expenditure in May advanced by 13 per cent with respect to 2010 levels and stood at €106.7 million. Package expenditure went up by 17 per cent, and an increase was also noted in the other expenditure category.

Inbound tourists for the first five months were estimated at 481,762, an increase of 16 per cent over the corresponding period in 2010.

Results also showed that 85 per cent of all inbound visits comprised tourists coming from EU states, in spite of a rise of 48 per cent in the number of non-EU tourists.

For the period under review, the majority of tourists opted for non-package travel; but an increase in package trips was registered. While most tourists visited Malta for the first time this year, an increase in repeat visits was also noted.

The average length of stay was 7.2 nights, a decrease of 0.3 of a night over 2010 estimates.

Total tourist expenditure was estimated at €356 million, a rise of 14 per cent over 2010.

Increases were recorded throughout all expenditure categories. The survey results indicate a two per cent drop in the per capita total expenditure when compared to last year, to €739.