Maltese travellers spend an average of €125 a night when abroad, official statistics for June show.
In the first half of the year, the total budgeted expenditure by outbound tourists stood at €105.5 million, the National Statistics Office said.
The number of Maltese going abroad in June increased by 23.5 per cent over the same month last year, to reach 24,300, including 20,762 trips to EU destinations.
Both EU and non-EU destinations saw increases over 2009. Travel to the EU increased, with the exception of the UK. The largest increase was recorded in the Italian market.
As in previous years, the majority of outbound tourists were men and the largest proportion of outbound trips were made by those in the 25-44 age bracket, standing at 10,761.
The number of outbound passengers in the first six months of the year was 116,787, up by five per cent when compared to last year.
The most popular countries sought remained the UK and Italy, as was the case in both 2008 and 2009. Trips to EU destinations had an average length of stay of 6.4 nights while the average for non-EU countries stood at 12 nights.
A substantial increase was noted in the 0-24 age group of travellers, which almost doubled when compared to 2009.