Total inbound tourists for August 2022 were estimated at 305,624, while total nights spent amounted to 2,498,251, the NSO said.
Inbound Tourism: August 2022
During the month under review, a total of 288,627 inbound tourists visited Malta for holiday purposes, and 6,925 tourists came for business purposes. The largest share of inbound tourists were aged between 0-24 (39.0 per cent), followed by the 25-44 age bracket (38.6 per cent). Italian, French and German residents made up 42.5 per cent of total inbound tourists. The largest share of guest nights (83.0 per cent) was spent in rented accommodation establishments.
The average length of stay of total inbound tourists stood at 8.2 nights. Total tourist expenditure surpassed €316.6 million. The average expenditure per night was estimated at €126.7.
January-August 2022
Inbound tourists during the first eight months of 2022 amounted to 1,474,365, while the total nights spent nearly reached 10.8 million nights. Total tourist expenditure was estimated at €1.3 billion.
Total expenditure per capita stood at €873, decreasing from €975 in 2021.
COVID-19 recovery
Inbound tourism recovery from the pandemic can be quantified by comparing 2019 and 2022 August data. The year 2019 will be used here as the reference year for the pre-COVID-19 situation. Total inbound tourists for the month under review have reached 90.8 per cent of those registered pre-COVID-19, and the associated nights spent made up 86.7 per cent of the respective figure.
The highest recovery can be seen in the 0-24 age bracket (106.3 per cent) and the lowest recovery can be associated with the 65+ age bracket (76.7 per cent). The segment of inbound tourists visiting Malta for holiday purposes experienced a better recovery (92.1 per cent) than that of tourists visiting Malta for business (71.7 per cent) and other (75.3 per cent) purposes. Total tourist expenditure has reached 96.1 per cent of its respective pre-COVID-19 value.