Guests at hotels, guesthouses, hostels and tourist villages were up by almost 9 per cent in May when compared to the same month last year, new NSO data shows.

National Statistic Office figures show that 166,842 guests spent a collective total of 848,039 nights in Malta that month. All forms of collective accommodation except 4-star hotels registered increases in total nights spent.

4-star hotels, however, continued to be the most popular form of collective accommodation, accounting for  45.4 per cent of nights spent. 

The average length of stay in collective accommodation establishments went down to 5.1 nights from 5.4 nights in May 2016. Net use of beds was down by 0.5 percentage points and stood at 67.9 per cent. 

NSO figures show that there were 176 collective accommodation establishments registered in Malta in May. Together, they have a capacity of 17,868 bedrooms and 40,349 bed-places.

Regional breakdown

Hoteliers in Gozo saw the biggest gains, with guest numbers up by 11.2 per cent compared to Malta's 8.8 per cent increase and the 7.7 per cent increase registered for Comino. 

The country as a whole registered a 14.7 per cent increase in total guests over the first five months of 2017 from January to May. Total nights spent were up 6.7 per cent while the net use of bed-places rose by 2.3 percentage points to reach 57.8 per cent.