Occupancy trends – The overall occupancy rate in collective accommodation establishments (net use) went down by 1.0 percentage point in March 2008 when compared to the same month a year ago, to stand at 48.9 per cent (see graph above).

Length of stay and nights spent – In March 2008, total nights spent in collective accommodation establishments were recorded at 551,449, an increase of 3.9 per cent over the corresponding month in 2007. Year on year, the average length of stay in collective accommodation establishments decreased by 0.2 nights to 5.8 nights.

Regional overview – Accounting for 95.5 per cent of the national bed-stock, the overall supply of bed-places in the Malta region stood at 36,580 beds, implying a decrease of 1.1 per cent when compared to the same month in 2007. On an annual basis, the net use of bed-places in Malta went down by 1.2 percentage points to 49.3 per cent. Year on year, the average length of stay decreased by 0.1 nights to 6.1 nights. Nights spent by non-residents accounted for 95.6 per cent of total guest-nights in Malta.

In Gozo and Comino, the overall supply of bed-places stood at 1,716 beds, an increase of 5.4 per cent over the comparable month a year ago. The net use of bed-places in March was 41.6 per cent, an increase of 6.1 percentage points over the same month in 2007. The average length of stay stood at 2.6 nights, an increase of 0.1 nights over March 2007. Nights spent by non-residents accounted for 53.1 per cent of total guest-nights in Gozo

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