In 2021, the total number of inbound and domestic tourists who visited the Gozo and Comino region amounted to 435,907, the NSO said Tuesday. Domestic tourists accounted for 83.8% of total tourism demand within this region.
The total number of inbound and domestic tourists who visited the Malta region amounted to 962,556, with inbound tourists accounting for 97.5% of total tourists visiting this region.
Domestic tourism
During 2021, domestic tourism across regions stood at 389,561 total arrivals, an increase of 8.1% when compared to 2020. Malta residents travelling to the Gozo and Comino region totalled 365,252 or 93.8% of total domestic tourists. Most domestic tourists travelled for holiday purposes (78.1%) and spent between one and three nights (79.2%).
The average length of stay decreased from 3.0 to 2.8 compared with 2020 levels.
Domestic tourist nights totalled 1,090,113, an increase of 2.4% over 2020. Total expenditure by domestic tourists in 2021 was estimated at €80.3m, an increase of 35.2% when compared to the previous year. The average expenditure per capita stood at €206.2, an increase of €41.3 over 2020.
Nights spent by domestic tourists by region and year
Significant increases have been noted in the domestic tourists and the number of nights spent during the shoulder months (March and April 2021) when compared to 2020 levels. This has been greatly attributed from Covid-19 related travel restrictions.
Domestic tourism to Gozo and Comino region
Domestic tourists to Gozo and Comino region, who stayed in rented accommodations, amounted to 212,924, an increase of 3% over 2020. More than half of the domestic stays in rented accommodation (64.4%) were in other rented accommodation establishments.
The majority of domestic tourist nights (62.4%) were in rented accommodation, of which 73.1% were spent in other rented accommodation.
Domestic tourism expenditure in Gozo and Comino region was estimated at almost €76.6m, an increase of 32.4% over 2020.
Domestic tourism to Malta region
Gozo and Comino residents who travelled to Malta region in 2021 as domestic tourists increased significantly from 11,971 in 2020 to 24,309 in 2021. Slightly more than half (55.2%) of domestic tourism nights by Gozo and Comino residents who travelled to Malta region were spent in non-rented accommodation.
In 2021, domestic tourism expenditure in Malta region was estimated at almost €3.7m, an increase of €2.1m over 2020.
Inbound tourism
In 2021, inbound tourists in Malta increased by 47%, reaching 968,136 tourists. Single centre destination inbound tourism accounted for the majority of the trips (95.8%) and the rest being twin centre destination trips.
Total nights spent by inbound tourists to Malta surpassed 8.3 million, an increase of 60.5% over 2020. Nights spent by single centre inbound tourists accounted for 95.7% of total nights spent in Malta. The remaining was nights spent on twin centre destination trips. Inbound tourist nights in the Malta region accounted for 94% of the total, while the Gozo and Comino region accommodated 6% of the total nights.
In 2021, total expenditure by inbound tourists to Malta reached €870.7m, an increase of 91.3% over 2020. Expenditure by inbound tourists on single centre destination trips accounted for 94.9% of total.
Single centre destination trips: Malta region
In 2021, inbound tourists to Malta region as a single centre destination reached 897,481 tourists, an increase of 45% over 2020. Most of the inbound tourists were aged between 25 and 44 (42.2%) and came from EU member states (71.1%) but the strongest market being United Kingdom (21.9%). More than half of the single centre inbound tourists (58.4%) travelled by low-cost airlines and 39.1% by other airlines.
Travelling by low-cost airlines registered an increase of 42.6% compared to 2020. First-time tourists accounted for 72.5%. The majority of single centre inbound tourists to Malta region, stayed in collective accommodation (66.3%). Nights spent by inbound tourists to Malta region as a single centre destination went up by 60.4% when compared to 2020, reaching almost 7.6 million nights. Total expenditure by inbound tourists to Malta as single centre destination, reached almost €800m, an increase of 89.7% over 2020.
This increase was mostly attributed to increases in accommodation expenditure (112.4%), other expenditure (83.9%) and travel ticket expenditure (54.6%).
Single centre destination trips: Gozo and Comino region
Inbound tourists who visited Gozo and Comino region as a single centre destination amounted to 29,889, an increase of 44.7% over 2020. This accounted for 42.3%, of the total inbound tourists to Gozo and Comino region. The majority came from EU member states (61.5%) but the strongest market being the United Kingdom (30.7%). Most were aged between 45 and 64 (38.3%). Non-package trips accounted for 89.7% of inbound tourists to Gozo and Comino region. The single centre non-package trips to Gozo and Comino region increased by 44.4% over 2020. More than half of the single centre inbound tourists to Gozo and Comino region, travelled by low-cost airlines (51.9%).
Low-cost airlines registered an increase of 34.9% over 2020. In contrast to single centre Malta region, the majority of single centre tourists to Gozo and Comino region, 41.3%, stayed in other rented accommodation. Nights spent by inbound tourists to Gozo and Comino region on single centre trips increased by 32.1% when compared to 2020, amounting to 352,843 nights. In 2021, the average length of stay of single centre inbound tourists to Gozo and Comino region decreased by 1.1 nights from 12.9 nights to 11.8 nights.
Expenditure by inbound tourists to Gozo and Comino region as single centre destination was estimated at €28m in 2021, an increase of 61% when compared to previous year. This increase was mostly attributed to increases in accommodation expenditure (92.7%), travel ticket expenditure (61.7%) and other expenditure (51.8%).
Twin centre destination trips
In 2021, inbound tourists who visited Malta and Gozo and Comino regions as twin centre destination totalled 40,766, an increase of 113.8% when compared to 2020. The largest share of twin centre inbound tourists were in the 25-44 age bracket (50.4%). The majority of inbound tourists on twin centre trips were first-time tourists (76.7%) and came from EU member states (72.5%) but the strongest markets being France (22.9%) and the United Kingdom (19.9%). More than half of the twin centre inbound tourists travelled by low-cost airlines (51.7%). Travelling by low cost and other airlines recorded significant increases of 102.2 and 143.2% respectively when compared to 2020.
A high proportion of twin centre tourists stayed in rented accommodation (91.2%). Total nights spent by twin centre tourists increased by 95.6% when compared to 2020, amounting to 438,744 nights. The majority of inbound twin centre tourist nights were spent in collective accommodation (45.5%), followed by 38.8% in other rented accommodation (Tables 10 and 11). In 2021, the average length of stay of inbound tourists visiting both regions stood at 10.8 nights, down by 1.0 nights compared to 2020. Total expenditure spent by twin centre tourists was estimated at €44.7m in 2021, an increase of 162.6% over 2020. Non-package expenditure by twin centre inbound tourists was almost nine times higher, when compared to package expenditure. All expenditure categories registered significant increases over 2020.