174,382 tourists came to Malta in March, spending a total of 1,057,589 nights here, the statistics office said on Monday.
The largest share were aged between 25 and 44 (38.3 per cent), followed by the 45-64 age bracket (33.5 per cent). Arrivals from the United Kingdom, Italy and France made up 46.6 per cent of the total.
The number of tourist nights was up by 43.1 per cent when compared to March 2022, surpassing 1.0 million nights. The largest share of guest nights (85.4 per cent) was in rented accommodation establishments. The average length of stay was 6.1 nights.
Tourist expenditure surpassed €126.3 million, an increase of 57.7 per cent over the corresponding month in 2022. The average expenditure per night was estimated at €119.5.
January-March arrivals exceed 2019 figures
Inbound tourists for the first quarter of 2023 amounted to 443,062, while the total nights spent surpassed 2.9 million nights.
That shows growth from the 425,892 tourists who visited Malta in the first quarter of 2019, the year before COVID-19 struck.
Total tourist expenditure was estimated at €312.4 million. Expenditure per person decreased to €705 from €710 in 2022.