Almost 2.6 million inbound tourists arrived on the Maltese islands in 2018, the National Statistics Office said today. This was an increase of 14.3% on 2017.While total nights spent by inbound tourists went up by 12.5%, reaching nearly 18.6 million nights.

Tourism expenditure during 2018 was estimated at €2.1 billion, 8.0% higher than that recorded for 2017. Total expenditure per capita stood at €809, a decrease of 5.5% when compared to 2017, the NSO said.

The number of inbound visitors for December 2018 were estimated at 122,759, the NSO said. This was an increase of 11.0% when compared to the corresponding month in 2017. 105,766 were for holiday purposes, and 10,332 were on business.

The NSO noted that arrivals from EU Member States went up by 8.9% to 101,792 when compared to December 2017.

There was an increase of 10.1% on 2017 in the total nights spent, amounting to 870,538 nights. The largest share of guest nights (49.3%) was spent in collective accommodation establishments.

The NSO also noted that tourist expenditure for December was estimated at €78.3 million, an increase of 1.1% over 2017.

Photograph by Alain Salvary

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