Overtourism

As we all know, Malta is experiencing significant strain on its infrastructure at all levels, including drainage, healthcare services, energy distribution and traffic congestion. Besides the issue of an increase in the resident population, which I highlighted in last week’s article, it would also be useful to highlight what the inbound tourism numbers are telling us.

Below please find the amount of inbound tourists we received in 2019, 2023 and until the end of May. As can be seen the substantial rise in inbound tourists in 2024 is evident, as we received more tourists in May than we did in July 2023. In 2019 and 2023, around 33% of the tourists visited Malta between January and May. If we assume the same proportion for 2024, this will mean that during this year, we should expect around 3.7 million tourists. That would be a 23% increase over the amount of tourists we had in 2023.

If we are to dig deeper, we would see that while the amount of inbound tourists is increasing very strongly in 2024, the real expenditure per tourist (2019 basis) is on the decline. This is because the rate of increase in the amount of tourists we had between January to May when compared to 2023 at +32%, was higher than the increase in real total expenditure which was of +27%.

All the above statistics beg the question, as to whether we are suffering from overtourism. Anyone visiting a beach in Malta and having to “fight” to find a small spot to stay undoubtedly feels the impact of overtourism. Overtourism comes with its own set of problems. It puts pressure on health services, waste management, water and energy supplies and increases housing prices – all at the expense of residents. Many European destinations are trying to curb tourist numbers by charging tourist fees to help sustain the upkeeping of certain areas and sustain infrastructural investment. However, such fees are not really managing to deter tourists so far. Some are even reducing the number of licensed B&Bs. Here we keep building and enlarging hotels like there is no tomorrow.

I believe it is high time to implement the strategies and visions outlined in various tourism documents. After all, it’s pointless to launch strategic and vision documents with fancy pictures if they are not implemented. In 2021, the Malta Chamber released the Rediscover document, which included 120 concrete proposals that need to be taken seriously to really achieve a sustainable, high-quality tourism industry in Malta.