Some 51,643 tourists came to Malta in January, 19.1 per cent less than in the same month last year.

The National Statistics Office said that the number was also similar to the number of arrivals in January 2007.

The NSO said that according to the ongoing frontier survey, the decrease reflected a drop in holiday makers, mainly from the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

It said that 85.6 per cent of tourists in January were from EU Member States.

The largest proportion of arrivals were aged between 45 and 64 years, followed by those in the 25 to 44 age bracket.

Meanwhile, total nights spent decreased by 4.6 percent when compared to January last year.

Year on year, total nights spent in private accommodation increased by 3.6 percent, while guest nights in collective accommodation decreased by 8.3 percent.

During the same period, tourist expenditure totalled €34.3 million, down by 20.9 percent over January 2008. This change was characterised by a reduction in all expenditure categories.