Guests in collective accommodation establishments were up by 12.3 in July, new figures released today by the National Statistics Office have revealed. 

Hoteliers in Gozo and Comino had an especially lucrative month, with guests up by a massive 24.5% when compared to July 2016. The increase in Malta was more moderate but still significant at 11.5%. 

Nevertheless, with occupancy rates hovering at 68.6%, there remains plenty of space for Gozo-bound tourists to spend the night. Occupancy rates in Malta reached 86.4% in July - an increase of 4.1 percentage points when compared to 12 months ago. 

The 184,055 guests who spent time in hotels, hostels, guesthouses and tourist villages in July spent a total of 1,111,406 nights there - a 7.9% increase over the same month last year.  

Three-star hotels registered the largest increase in total nights spent, though the lion's share of guest nights - 46.6% of the total - went to four-star establishments.

The average length of stay was marginally down in Malta by 0.2 of a night to reach 6.2, with a similar 0.3 decrease in Gozo and Comino, bringing the average there down to 4. 

In total, there were 184 active collective accommodation establishments in July, with a total of 42,383 beds. 

Yearly rise

So far this year, total guests in collective accommodation establishments are up by 14% when compared to 2016. Total nights are also up by 6.5% with the net use of bed places also increasing by 2.3 percentage points to reach 64.5%.