National Statistics Office figures have shown that the total number tourist who came to Malta last December was estimated to be 96,395, marking an increase of 32.8% when compared to December 2015, when 72,568 tourists were registered.
80,443 inbound tourist trips were carried out for holiday purposes, while a further 8,802 were undertaken for business purposes.
Tourists from EU member states remained the biggest market, bringing in 82,518 in December 2016. This in itself was an increase of 34.5% when compared to the corresponding month in 2015. The majority of inbound tourists were aged between 25 and 44, with the numbers within this age bracket reaching 10,384 – an increase of 41% over December 2015. This was followed by those within the 45-64 age bracket, who totalled 7,176, an increase of 29.5%. However, the largest growth rate was noticed in the tourists aged up to 24 (49.6%), with 4,647.
Total nights spent went up by 10.3% when compared to December 2015, amounting to 674,521 nights. The largest share of guest nights (55.7%) was spent in collective accommodation establishments. Tourist nights in private accommodation increased by 9.8% when compared to December 2015.
Total tourist expenditure was estimated at €62.3 million, an increase of 16% over the corresponding month in 2015.
January-December 2016
Inbound tourist trips throughout 2016 reached nearly 2 million, an increase of 10.2% over 2015. Total nights spent by inbound tourists went up by 5.7%, reaching almost 15.0 million nights.
Total tourism expenditure was estimated at €1.71 billion, 4.3% higher than that recorded for 2015. Total expenditure per capita stood at €869, a decrease of 5.4% when compared to 2015.
Source: MaltaToday
