The occupancy rate in hotels and other collective accommodation declined by 2,4% in August compared to the same month last year, the NSO said today.

Earlier this month it said that tourist arrivals in August decreased by 1.9 per cent.

In today's statement, the NSO said that arrivals by non-Malta residents amounted to 136,181, down by 4.9 per cent when compared to August last year. Likewise, the number of bed nights by tourists declined by 4.3 per cent and stood at 979,561. Despite this drop, the average length of stay edged up by 0.1 of a night, and stood
at 7.2 nights.

Consequently, the net occupancy rate in collective accommodation decreased by 2.4 percentage points and stood at 82.6 per cent.

Increases in occupancy rate were registered in the 4-star hotel category, reaching 94.4 per cent, and in guest houses (51.4 per cent). The net
use of bed-places by non-residents and residents went down to 80.0 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively.

In Gozo and Comino,there was a slight decrease in the number of arrivals (9,065) and a drop in the number of nights (35,388). Arrivals and nights by foreigners went down in almost all collective accommodation establishments, both in Malta and in Gozo and Comino.

During August, the net use of bed-places was 83.2 per cent in Malta - 2.3 percentage points less than 2010. The only increase was recorded in the 4-star hotel category and stood at 95.9 per cent. In Gozo and Comino, the net use of bed-places was estimated at 67.5 per cent.