Hotel occupancy in May fell by 15.7 per cent to 48.5 per cent when compared to the same period last year.

The National Statistics Office said 103,141 people stayed in hotels, of whom 88.7 per cent, or 91,470, were tourists. Overall, they spent 582,733 nights there, 22.6 per cent less than last year and, as in previous months, the largest drops were recorded in four- and three-star hotels.

The average length of stay was 5.6 nights.

Meanwhile, the overall supply of beds in Malta rose by 1.4 per cent to 37,319 beds and accounted for 95.5 per cent of the national bed stock while in Gozo and Comino it increased by 2.3 per cent to 1,758 beds.

Between last year and this year, hotel occupancy fell by 15.6 per cent to 49.1 per cent.