The number of nights tourists spent on the Maltese islands increased by 1.8 per cent and amounted to 730,935 in October, the National Statistics Office said.

Non-resident arrivals stood at 119,227, an increase of 1.5 per cent when compared to October 2010.

Similarly, non-resident nights went up by 2.6 per cent and amounted to 707,839. The average length of stay stood at 5.9 nights, at par with that for last year.

The largest proportion of foreigners resided in 4-star hotels. There were decreases in both arrivals and nights within this hotel category, which stood at 52,376 and 327,845 respectively.

Resident arrivals stood at 10,889, while the number of nights spent in collective accommodation dropped by 17 per cent.

There was a marginal decline of 0.1 in the average length of stay of residents, which stood at 2.1 nights.

The overall net occupancy rate during the month under review stood at 60.7, up by one percentage point when compared to last year.

There were decreases in occupancy rates in all hotel categories, except for the 3-star hotels. The occupancy rate for non-residents reached 58.8 per cent, up by 1.4 percentage points when compared to last year.

Increases in the net use of bed-places were registered in guesthouses, aparthotels and hostels, while drops were registered in almost all hotel categories.

The occupancy rate for residents went down by 0.4 of a percentage point and stood at 1.9 per cent.

Total arrivals and nights in Malta amounted to 123,180 and 702,323 respectively. The average length of stay edged up by 0.1 of a night over last year, and stood at 5.7 nights.

Total arrivals in Gozo and Comino decreased slightly, while total nights increased by one per cent. The average length of stay in Gozo and Comino stood at 4.1 nights, and went up by 0.2 of a night over 2010.

During October, the occupancy rate in Malta stood at 61 per cent. In Gozo and Comino, the net use of bed-places went down by 0.8 of a percentage point over last year, and stood at 53.9 per cent.

Drops in resident occupancy rates were registered in all collective accommodation establishments in Gozo and Comino.

On a national basis, the total number of bed-places and bedrooms amounted to 37,909 and 17,825 respectively, with an average of 2.1 beds per room.

The number of bed-places in Malta stood at 36,198 (95.5 per cent). Bedrooms in Gozo and Comino amounted to 824, which in absolute terms is 24 more than last year.