Tourists visiting Malta in October 2016 spent an average of 5.5 nights in their hotel accommodation, new figures released today have shown. 

The figure is on par with that of October in the previous year, National Statistics Office figures show. 

Total guests and nights spent in collective accommodation establishments during October 2016 advanced by 0.9 and 0.4 per cent respectively when compared to the corresponding month in 2015. 

Hotels in Gozo saw a decline in numbers that month, with total guests down by 2.3 per cent when compared to October 2015. Nights spent in Comino also declined by 4.7 per cent. 

Four- and two-star hotels were the only categories to register increases in total nights spent. Almost half of all guests in collective accommodation (48.6 per cent) last October spent their time in a four-star hotel. 

On a national level, there were 180 active collective accommodation establishments during October, with a net capacity of 18,187 bedrooms and 40,582 bed-places. 

Total guests in Malta numbered 151,823, up by 1.1 per cent over October 2015. A marginal increase of 0.6 per cent was recorded in the number of nights spent.

January-October

Total guests during the fi rst ten months of 2016 amounted to 1,392,097, an increase of 0.2 per cent over the same period in 2015. Total nights spent went down by 0.7 per cent, reaching nearly 7.9 million. The net use of bed-places declined by 0.9 percentage points to 66.4 per cent.