NEWS | Wednesday, 02 March 2008

Tourism arrivals up by 13.4% in February

The latest tourism statistics published by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Friday showed that inbound tourists in February 2008 increased by 13.4% when compared to the same month in 2007. Year on year, total nights spent increased by 1.6%.
Tourist departures in February 2008 were estimated at 57,335, implying an increase of 13.4% over the same month in 2007.
The increase reflected primarily a rise in holiday makers, mainly from the German, Spanish and Italian markets. Tourists coming from the United Kingdom registered a decrease.
During the month under review, total nights spent increased by 1.6% when compared to the same month in 2007.
Year on year, total nights spent in private accommodation increased by 8.3%, while those in collective accommodation remained relatively unchanged. Overall, the average length of stay was calculated at 8.1 nights, shorter by one night when compared to February 2007.
The NSO statistics showed that for the first two months of this year, the number of inbound tourists was estimated at 121,185, implying an increase of 18.5% over the corresponding period a year ago.
The growth was primarily attributable to an increase in holiday visits, mainly from the German, Spanish and French markets. The British market registered a decrease.
86.6% of all inbound visits were by tourists coming from EU Member States.
Although there was an increase in repeat tourism, data showed that the overall increase was primarily characterised by a rise in first-time visits. The latter were estimated to account for 63.8% of total visits.
In the period under review, total tourist expenditure was estimated at €80.2 million, a decrease of 0.9% over 2007. The growth in non-package and other expenditure was offset by a reduction in package expenditure.
As from 2008, the number of tourists visiting Malta on direct bookings and non-package trips exceeded package ones, the latter accounting for 41.8% of the total.
The per capita total expenditure was estimated at €672, down by 16.2% when compared to the corresponding period in the preceding year.
The largest age bracket comprised tourists aged 45-64, albeit the strongest increase is attributable to the 25-44 age bracket.
Total nights spent increased by 7.7% when compared to the same period in 2007.
Nights spent in private accommodation increased by 47.1% while those in collective accommodation registered a decline of 1.5% when compared to the same period in 2007.
Tourist nights in rented, owner-occupied and in lodging with family and friends registered increases when compared to the same period last year.
With regard to guest-nights in collective accommodation, the 5-star category and those establishments classified as other collective accommodation registered increases, while the 4- and 3-star categories registered decreases. The average length of stay is calculated at 8.0 nights, down by 0.8 nights when compared to last year’s level.