Malta is not the only EU member state suffering a low in tourism as a new report issued by the European Tourism Commission shows the European continent suffered the heaviest decline in tourism in the world.
Shedding light on the tourism performance of the last quarter in 2009, the report shows that prospects for 2010 are favourable and growth is set to continue. However, this recovery must be compared with 2008 figures, which were particularly poor for the final quarter, and good results from other parts of the world.
According to statistics from the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), international arrivals to Europe fell -1.1 per cent in the last quarter of 2009, compared to the same period in 2008, making Europe the region of the world with the worst performance.
However, this decline is smaller than the one recorded in the third quarter (-3.1 per cent).
By way of comparison, the American continent recorded a fall in growth of 0.5 per cent, whereas other regions saw an increase (+5.2 per cent in Asia-Pacific, +8.0 per cent in Africa and +9.8 per cent in the Middle East).
In Europe, very few countries saw growth in tourist arrivals during the first nine to 11 months of 2009.
Only Iceland and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia registered an increase. Most of the other European countries suffered a decline between -5 to -12 per cent, with others being hit by an even greater reversal in fortunes (between -15 and -25 per cent). This was the case in Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania and Slovakia.
The report also highlighted another trend linked to the economic backdrop which is that Europeans are travelling more in their own or neighbouring countries. This tendency was more clearly visible in western and northern Europe and less so in central and eastern Europe, where the economic recession is forcing people to do without their holiday altogether.
Another trend is that European tourists are waiting until the last minute before travelling, surfing the internet more to find cheaper deals and keeping their spending down while away. They are also travelling less through the year, preferring to sacrifice short breaks in order to keep their annual main holiday.
Overnight hotel stays fell, with people opting for campsites or renting houses or flats instead. The decline was less in the final three months of the year, with -2 per cent for the occupation rate of hotels in the month of November, compared to a drop of -6.9 per cent over the whole of the year.
The smallest drops were to be found in the United Kingdom and Sweden, while Malta, Germany, France, Italy and Belgium also come out relatively well, with the steepest drops recorded in Eastern Europe.
The price for overnight stays in hotels has also fallen: an average of -12 per cent in Europe 2009 as a whole, -15 per cent more specifically in northern Europe and up to -25 per cent in central and eastern Europe.
As regards travel in Europe by people from non-European countries, trips from the United States fell by four per cent over the first 10 months of 2009. This trend is unlikely to be reversed in 2010, despite economic recovery in the United States, which can be attributed to a euro which remains strong, and relatively high travel costs.