Tourist arrivals in the first five months of the year fell by 14.3 per cent over the same period last year, according to the National Statistics Office.

The drop was mainly due to fewer travellers from Britain, Germany and Spain.

However, it said a rise was recorded from Italy, Libya and Switzerland.

A spokesman for the tourism authorities said that, notwithstanding the decline, arrivals were still at the levels of 2007, which was a record year.

Of the total, 89.1 per cent of tourists came from the EU and most opted for non-package holidays. In fact, package trips dropped by 11.8 per cent.

Most passengers were aged between 45 and 64, followed by those between 25 and 44. These two categories made up 75 per cent of the total.

Meanwhile, nights spent in private accommodation fell by 4.8 per cent and those in collective accommodation by 17.9 per cent.

The average length of stay was 7.5 nights, 0.1 per cent less than last year.

Total expenditure fell by 12.8 per cent to €267.1 million. However, the average expenditure per tourist rose by 2.3 per cent to €711.