895,096 tourists visited the country in the first six months of 2022, the National Statistics Office has said.
The total nights spent reached almost 6 million nights. Total tourist expenditure was estimated at €695.9 million.
The NSO said that total expenditure per capita stood at €777, decreasing from €862 in 2021.
As for the specific month of June, 218,462 inbound tourists visited Malta for a holiday, followed by 16,953 tourists who travelled to Malta for business purposes. The largest share of inbound tourists for the month were aged between 25 and 44 (43.3%), followed by the 45-64 age bracket (27.6%). French, German and Italian residents made up 36% of total inbound tourists. The largest share of guest nights (87.2%) was spent in rented accommodation establishments. The average length of stay of total inbound tourists stood at 6.5 nights. Total tourist expenditure for the month reached almost €216 million. The average expenditure per night was estimated at €136.9.
“A Covid-19 recovery comparison can be made between 2019 and 2022 June data to quantify the recovery of inbound tourism from the effects of the pandemic. The year 2019 will be used as the reference year for the pre-Covid-19 situation. Total inbound tourists for the month under review (June 2022) have reached 87.7% of those registered pre-Covid-19, and the associated nights spent made up 82.1% of the respective figure. The highest recovery can be seen in the 0-24 age bracket (91.7%) and the lowest recovery is associated with the 45-64 age bracket (82.9%). The segment of inbound tourists visiting Malta for business purposes experienced a better recovery (109.1%) than that of tourists visiting Malta for holiday purposes (86.8%),” the NSO said.