Inbound tourists in October 2008 were estimated at 126,941, a decrease of 9.3 per cent when compared to the same month in 2007. Year on year, total nights spent decreased by 12.3 per cent.

October 2008 - The ongoing frontier survey indicated that tourist departures in October were estimated at 126,941, implying a decrease of 9.3 per cent over the same month in 2007. The majority of tourists, totalling 125,878 tourists, came to Malta by air. Nevertheless, there was a decrease of 9.4 per cent in the number of air passengers when compared to October 2007. Results also show that 84.2 per cent of inbound tourists in October came to Malta on holiday, while a further 8.7 per cent visited the island for business purposes.

Meanwhile, total nights spent decreased by 12.3 per cent when compared to the same month in 2007. Year on year, total nights spent in private accommodation decreased by 18.4 per cent, while the collective accommodation category registered a drop of 9.7 per cent. Overall, the average length of stay is calculated at 8.3 nights, down by 0.3 nights when compared to October 2007.

January-October 2008 - Inbound tourists for the first ten months are estimated at 1,172,109, implying an increase of 5.6 per cent over the corresponding period a year ago. In absolute terms, the growth is mostly attributable to an increase in holiday visits, mainly from the Spanish, Italian and German markets. On the other hand decreases were recorded in the American, British and Libyan markets. 88.1 per cent of all inbound visits comprised tourists coming from EU Member States.

For the period under review, the main increase was registered among tourists having non-package holidays. On the other hand, the number of tourists having a package holiday decreased by 12.9 per cent. The largest age bracket comprised tourists aged 45-64, followed by those in the 25-44 age bracket, albeit the largest increase can be attributed to the 0-24 age bracket.

Total nights spent increased by 2.7 per cent when compared to the same period in 2007. Nights spent in private accommodation registered an increase of 6.1 per cent, while guest nights in collective accommodation increased by 1.4 per cent. With regards to collective accommodation the 5- and 4- star hotel categories increased respectively by 6.9 and 2.1 per cent, while the 3- star category recorded a drop of 13.6 per cent. The average length of stay is calculated at 8.8 nights, down by 0.2 nights when compared to last year’s level.

In the period under review, total tourist expenditure is estimated at €956.6 million, resulting in a decrease of 1.5 per cent over the same period last year. The growth in non-package expenditure was contrasted by a reduction in package and other expenditure.

The survey results indicate that the per capita total expenditure is estimated at €829, down by 7.3 per cent when compared to the corresponding period last year.