The Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, Mario de Marco, said today that while the problems of tourism were continuing to persist, he was confident and optimistic for this year.
Dr de Marco made his comments after the NSO released figures showing that tourist arrivals grew by 10.4 per cent last month while arrivals for the whole year were down by just over 8 per cent.
He pointed out that 2008 had been an exceptionally successful year, but when last year's performance was compared to an average year, such as 2006, arrivals had increased by 56,000.
Much of last year's drop in tourist arrivals was in the first half of the year, with a gradual recovery first noted after June. The figures turned into positive territory in December. The sharp decline in arrivals in the first half of last year was caused by the fact that many companies called off conference and incentive travel because of the economic crisis. Furthermore many families opted for a single holiday instead of two, dropping their winter travel.
The UK remained Malta's biggest source market, accounting for 35 per cent of all arrivals. While there had been a small drop from the previous years, Dr de Marco said that UK tourism to Malta had actually done well compared to other destinations.
The introduction of new air services saw 10 per cent growth in arrivals from Italy, which edged out Germany as the second biggest source market. The French and German markets dropped by 10 and 18 per cent respectively.
DECEMBER GROWTH
The NSO in a statement this morning said that 49,848 tourists came to Malta in December, up 10.4 compared to December 2008. The number of tourist nights remained relatively unchanged.
It said that 41,512 tourists visited Malta for holidays in December, and 6,111 were in Malta for business purposes. The majority of inbound tourists came from EU member states and amounted to 84 per cent of the total.
The number of non-EU tourists was estimated at 7,782.
First time visitors made up the majority of inbound tourists, with an estimated 53 per cent of total inbound tourists. Repeat tourists increased by 20 per cent to 23,441.
During the same period, guest nights in collective accommodation increased maginally by 0.7 per cent.
Overall, 75 per cent of inbound tourists chose to reside in collective accommodation, while 25 per cent made use of private accommodation. The average length of stay was eight nights, down by 0.8 nights when compared to December 2008.
ANNUAL DROP OF 8%
The NSO said that between January and December, 1,183,012 tourists came to Malta, down by eight per cent over 2008. The declines were mostly from British, German and Scandinavian destinations. Increases were recorded in the Italian and Libyan markets. The majority of inbound tourists opted for non-package travel.
The largest proportion of inbound passengers were aged between 45 and 64 closely followed by those within the 25-44 age bracket. Overall the majority of tourists visiting Malta remained on the island for at least seven nights. Total nights spent over the past months decreased by nine per cent. Guest nights in collective accommodation registered a drop of 12 per cent, while total nights in private accommodation decreased by 0.3 per cent.
The average length of stay was calculated at 8.5 nights, at par with 2008 levels. During these 12 months, total tourist expenditure was estimated at €916.4 million, resulting in a decrease of 12 per cent compared to 2008. Decreases were recorded throughout all expenditure categories and are attributed to the decreases in the number of nights spent here by these tourists
Per capita total expenditure was estimated at €791, down by four per cent when compared to 2008 levels.