Tourist arrivals last month increased by 7.6 per cent over last year to 176,781, the National Statistics Office said.

It said total nights spent in Malta rose by six per cent.

Estimates showed that the 154,434, visited Malta for holiday purposes, while another 11,176 trips were undertaken for business purposes.

First-time visitors advanced by 10 per cent over 2012 with tourism from EU states rising by five per cent, making up 84 per cent of departing tourists. Meanwhile, non-EU tourists increased by 24 per cent to 28,855.

The UK remained Malta’s main tourism market (28 per cent) followed by Italy (14 per cent). Upward shifts of 18 and 11 per cent were noted in the Italian and German markets, respectively.

Total nights spent during the month under review increased by six per cent and stood at 1.5 million. This shift was mainly attributed to a 19 per cent increase in the number of nights spent in private accommodation, including time-share.

The average length of stay stood at 8.3 nights, slightly down by 0.1 of a night when compared to September last year.

Total expenditure was estimated at €171.2 million, a growth of three per cent over the same month in 2012.

The total number of departing tourists who visited Malta during this nine-month period was estimated at 1,243,573, nine per cent more than in the same period last year.

In absolute terms, the main origin of arrivals remained the British market. However, significant increases were recorded in the Libyan, Austrian, Russian and Italian markets.

On the other hand, the Spanish market recorded a drop of 13 per cent.