Growth of 19.4% in total inbound visitors for the month of June – MTA
Statistics released recently by the National Statistics Office show that inbound tourism to Malta continued to exhibit a positive performance with the total inbound visitors in June 2017 reaching 232,193, an increase of 19.4% when compared to the same month last year, the Malta Tourism Authority said in a statement.
Total inbound tourists (excluding overnight cruise passengers) increased by 17.2% or 33,295 more tourists. Substantial growth was registered in the number of tourists visiting Malta for business and professional reasons (+47.9%), first time visitors (+20.2%) and non-package type of travellers (+19.9%). The largest absolute growth came from tourists aged 25 to 44 years (+23,628). With an average length of stay of 7.0 nights, nearly 1.6 million guest nights were generated, increasing by 9.6%. Tourists spent a total of €193.7 million, €24.2 million more compared to June 2016.
Cumulative data for the period January to June 2017, points to an extraordinary performance with the number of inbound tourists recording a double-digit growth of 19.3%, reaching the figure of 990,182. This was fol- lowed by noteworthy growth rates in the number of nights stayed by tourists (+11.6%) and tourist expenditure (+14.8%). Increases were registered in the number of tourists staying in both collective and private type accommodation, with the latter featuring a notable increase of 28.5%.
During the first six months of year, business tourism increased by 54.7%. This growth partly reflects the business related tourism generated by the EU Presidency of Malta. Tourists visiting Malta for holiday reasons increased by 15.2%.
The large majority of source markets featured increased tourism flows with Italy recording the largest absolute increase of 32,239, followed by Belgium (+20,993), Germany (+15,178), France (+12,392), Spain (+11,890) and Poland (+10,154).
Paul Bugeja, Chief Executive Officer of the Malta Tourism Authority, expressed satisfaction at the sustained growth in inbound tourism performance, in particular with the double digit growth rate in tourist expenditure, which deeply permeates in the local economy and is beneficial to the tourism industry and the community at large.