The English language teaching sector attracts some 80,000 visitors to Malta every year, amounting to nearly five per cent of total tourist arrival, Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said.

He was speaking this morning at the annual general meeting of the Federation of English Language Teaching Organisations Malta (Feltom).

The latest figures, he continued, showed that Europe remained by far Malta’s main source market, with around 90 per cent of the total.

Italy, Russia and Germany remain the top three countries of origin, together accounting for close to 50 per cent of ELT arrivals.

These past years have also seen the emergence of new markets which hold a great deal of promise, including Brazil, Turkey and Japan.

Although the peak summer months remain the busiest for English language schools, there has been an increase in visitors within the spring and winter months, that together now account for more than half of total arrivals.

The minister described 2014 as a landmark year for tourism, with around 1.7 million tourist arrivals, an increase of more than 123,000 arrivals over 2013.

Until the end of 2014, nights spent are expected to have reached the 13.5 million nights, whilst the expenditure is expected to surpass the €1.5 billion.

The government will be working towards enhancing further airline connectivity. This factor has already facilitated the extension of the ELT sector’s market reach, particularly into Eastern Europe, he said.