Tourist numbers were up by a whopping 24 per cent in November when compared to the same month in 2015, new figures released by the National Statistics Office show.

A total of 142,711 tourists visited Malta during that month, spending an estimated €101.7 million - 12.9 per cent more than in November 2015 - in the process. Inbound tourists from EU member states went up by 28.1 per cent. 

Total nights spent in Malta were up by 14.2 per cent, and while the bulk of those were spent in hotels, guesthouses and other forms of collective accommodation, there was a 25.8 per cent increase in the number of nights spent in private accommodation when compared to November 2015. 

January-November 2016

Inbound tourist trips from January to November 2016 reached nearly 1.9 million, an increase of 9.4 per cent over the same period in 2015, the NSO said. Total nights spent by inbound tourists went up by 5.5 per cent, surpassing 14.2 million nights.

Total tourism expenditure was estimated at €1.65 billion, 3.9 per cent higher than that recorded in 2015. Total expenditure per capita stood at €880, a decrease of 5.1 per cent when compared to 2015.