Four out of every 10 Maltese people did not travel in 2016, with well more than a fourth of them citing financial reasons.

According to Eurostat data, 25 per cent of the Maltese people who did not travel declared they had “no motivation” to do so and another 19 per cent cited health reasons.

An additional 10.6 per cent of respondents who did not travel in 2016 said they were impeded by work or study commitments.

On average, 38 per cent of people within the European Union said they did not travel, just under half of them because they could not afford it. The highest number of those who did not travel – 76 per cent – were from Romania.

In the period under review, 62 per cent of EU inhabitants older than 15 made at least one trip “for personal purposes”.

Nearly a third of EU inhabitants travelled abroad at least once

Half of them had at least one holiday at home, consisting of at least one overnight stay, and nearly a third travelled abroad at least once.

Financial concerns were the most frequently mentioned reason for not going abroad in the majority of EU member states, according to Eurostat. This was more evident in Greece (75 per cent), Portugal (66 per cent) and Croatia (62 per cent).

In the Czech Republic (40 per cent) and Germany (39 per cent), health issues were mentioned as the main reason of staying home.

Work or study commitments were mostly mentioned in Portugal (31 per cent), Belgium, Germany and Austria (25 per cent).

Eurostat defined participation in tourism as the population of residents aged 15 or over who went abroad for personal purposes only. In its study, it excluded trips made for professional reasons consisting of at least one overnight stay.

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