The number of tourists visiting the Maltese islands took off in May following the launch of new airline routes.

The official number of departing visitors soared by 15 per cent compared to the same month last year, which was a record May.

According to Malta Tourism Authority CEO Josef Formosa Gauci, the increase was the result of new routes launched in April and May by Air Baltic, Turkish Airlines, Monarch and Wizz Air.

He said the airlines had launched a burst of marketing activity to sell their additional seats.

Data issued by the National Statistics Office (NSO) for May showed an increase of 15 per cent for departing tourists, reaching 155,771.

Some 86 per cent of them visited Malta on holiday while 12,539 were on business trips.

First-time visitors made up the majority of inbound tourists, an increase of 16 per cent over 2012.

As in previous months, most inbound tourists came from EU member states, but tourists from non-EU countries increased by a third. At 28 per cent, the UK remained the main market for inbound tourism, while the Italian market came second at 12 per cent.

Total nights spent on the island went up by 21 per cent, reaching 1,119,468 nights, while the average length of stay stood at 7.2 nights, up by 0.3 nights when compared to May 2012.

The total expenditure – at €133.7 million – also went up by 21 per cent over the corresponding month last year.

The NSO noted that the number of tourists who visited Malta between January and May was estimated at 507,044. Of these, 504,155 were departing tourists, an increase of 10 per cent over the same period last year. The data shows an increase of 14 per cent in the number of tourists from non-EU countries.

The total number of nights spent in Malta during the first five months this year went up by 13 per cent, exceeding 3.6 million.

During the period under review, expenditure was estimated at €399.1 million, which is 12 per cent higher than in 2012.