Malta’s inbound tourism grows 14.3%, while domestic drops 5.9% in 2018

The number of inbound tourists increased by 14.3% in 2018, as compared to the preceding year, reaching 2.6 million tourists, according to the latest tourism figures published by the National Statistics Office (NSO). However, domestic tourism indicators showed a decrease on all fronts.

The overwhelming majority of inbound tourist trips (95.7%) accounted for single-centre inbound tourism, with the rest being twin-centre destination trips.

Total nights spent by inbound tourists in Malta was up by 12.5% to 18.6 million in 2018, as compared to the preceding year.

Total expenditure by inbound tourists reached an estimate of €2.1b in 2018, increasing by 8% as compared to the preceding year. Expenditure by inbound tourists on single-centre destination trips accounted for 94.9% of the total.

Domestic tourism drops

However, domestic tourism in 2018 across regions stood at 245,477 total arrivals, showing a decrease of 5.9% when compared to 2017. Malta residents travelling to Gozo and Comino region totalled 227,121 (92.5%) of total domestic tourists, as the NSO press release says. 

Domestic tourist nights totalled 650,037, a decrease of 8.2% over 2017. Total expenditure by domestic tourists was estimated at almost €41m, with a drop of 5.8% when compared to the previous year.

The full report including charts and visual representation of data is available for download at the website of NSO.