Inbound tourists last month numbered 73,608, a decrease of 10.8 percent when compared to the same month in 2007.

The National Statistics Office said that year on year, total nights spent decreased by 14.6 percent.

It said that according to the Tourstat survey, 72,559 tourists came by air. There reflected a drop of 11.3 percent in the number of air passengers when compared to November last year.

Results also showed that 78.7 percent of inbound tourists in November came to Malta on holiday, while a further 15.8 percent visited the island for business purposes.

Meanwhile, total nights spent decreased by 14.6 percent when compared to the same month in 2007. Year on year, total nights spent in private accommodation increased by 21.1 percent, while guest nights in collective accommodation registered a drop of 23.5 percent.

Overall, the average length of stay is calculated at 7.3 nights, down by 0.4 nights when compared to November last year.

The NSO said that inbound tourists for the past 11 months numbered 1,245,717, an increase of 4.5 percent over the corresponding period a year ago.

In absolute terms, the growth is mostly attributable to an increase in holiday visits, mainly from the Italian, German and Spanish markets. On the other hand decreases were recorded in the British, American and Scandinavian markets.