Tourist arrivals in December increased by 3.1 per cent last month, when compared to December 2012, the National Statistics Office said.

It said that Tourstat data showed that excluding 326 passengers who stayed overnight on board their berthed cruise ship, the increase amounted to 6.5 per cent.

The NSO said arrivals in December were estimated at 65,345. A total of 52,986 came on holiday 8,315 for business purposes.

Most visitors came from EU states, while tourists from non-EU countries increased by 27 per cent. Malta’s main tourism markets continued to be the UK and Italy.

Total nights spent here went up by 6.8 per cent, reaching 567,553.

The average length of stay was 8.7 nights, at par with 2012 levels.

During the reference month, tourists’ total expenditure was estimated at €49.5 million, 1.3 per cent less than in the same month the previous year. All expenditure categories registered decreases.

Arrivals last year reached a record 1.6 million, an increase of 9.3 per cent over 2012.

An increase of 23.9 per cent was registered in tourists from non-EU countries.

Total nights spent in Malta by tourists last year went up by 8.7 per cent, reaching almost 12.9 million.

The average length of stay was 8.1 nights.

During the period under review, total tourist expenditure was estimated at €1.4 billion, 8.6 per cent more than in 2012. Increases were recorded throughout all expenditure categories. Total per capita expenditure stood at €910, slightly lower than in the previous year.