Malta saw the third biggest increase in tourist bed nights last year, figures issued by the EU on Wednesday show.

The number of nights spent in tourist accommodation in 2018 grew in nearly all EU member states, with the largest increases being observed in Latvia (+8.3%), Lithuania (+7.7%) and Malta (+6.5%), followed by Poland (+5.8%), Romania (+5.5%) and Belgium (+5.4%).

In contrast, decreases were registered in Luxembourg (-4.3%), Ireland (-1.5%) and Spain (-0.9%).

In 2018, the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in the European Union reached more than 3.1 billion, up by 2.2% compared with 2017. Since 2009, there has been a steady increase in the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments in the EU, notably driven by the rise in the nights spent by non-residents of the country visited.

In actual figures, Spain (467 million nights, -0.9% compared with 2017) retained its lead, ahead of France (444 mn, +2.4%), Italy (429 mn, +1.9%) and Germany (419 mn, +4.3%).  

  

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