Statistics issued by the National Statistics Office yesterday revealed that between January and August this year, inbound tourism has improved on all fronts, registering an increase of 9.6 per cent when compared to the same period the previous year.
While this may be largely attributable to the improvement registered in the lean months, the NSO said: “Inbound tourists for the first eight months of 2008 are estimated at 905,374… In absolute terms, the growth is mostly attributable to an increase in holiday visits, mainly from the German, Italian and Spanish markets. On the other hand decreases were recorded in the British, American and Libyan markets.”
While the total nights spent increased by 5.2 per cent in 2008 when compared to the period between January and August 2007, this August saw a marginal decrease of 0.4 per cent in number of nights spent when compared to last August.
With regards to collective accommodation, the 5 and 4-star hotel categories increased respectively by 5.6 and 4.4 per cent, while the 3-star category recorded a drop of 4.6 per cent.
Average bed nights have also decreased. Calculated at 8.7 nights, when compared to last year’s level, 2008 registered a drop by 0.4 nights. However, this is often considered as an advantage in the sector as it helps decrease problems related to capacity, seeing that the global economic reality is coercing many guests to travel on shoestring budgets. When numbers are higher, shorter stays encourage a higher turnover of guests, resulting in better capacity use and therefore increasing the possibility of higher cash turnover.
In fact, the NSO states that in the period under review, total tourist expenditure is estimated at €732.6 million, an increase of 1.1 per cent over 2007, but the same survey’s results indicate that the per capita total expenditure is estimated at €820, down by 8.7 per cent when compared to the corresponding period last year.
The 12.4 per cent growth in non-package guests was also heavily contrasted by a reduction of 10.4 per cent in package expenditure.
