4.5m tourist target ‘could be revisited if reached this year’ – Tourism minister
Malta recorded more arrivals and more guest nights but visitors stayed for fewer nights and spent less, survey found
Malta could reach its target of 4.5 million tourist arrivals by the end of this year, according to the tourism minister, a figure which could force the government to consider revising it.
“I think the target for 2035 might well be reached this year,” Jo Etienne Abela said when asked whether the government would revise the target or seek to maintain arrivals at that level.
“Strategies and visions are live things and we need to ensure we react to the realities that are unfolding. But, certainly, this is something we will have to consider,” he told Times of Malta.
The 4.5 million figure was set out in Malta Vision 2050, the government’s long-term economic plan launched last year, which framed the target as part of a decade-long shift towards “premium offerings that prioritise quality over quantity”. The plan also aims to almost double tourist spending per night and nearly triple the sector’s annual contribution to the economy by 2035.
Malta welcomed some four million tourists last year and figures presented by Deloitte at the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association’s (MHRA) Malta Hospitality Forum earlier this month suggest the country is on course to hit 4.5 million in 2026.
Tourist arrivals grew by 13% in the first quarter, a rate rivalled in the Mediterranean only by Cyprus.
Lower spend
But the same Deloitte survey found that while Malta recorded more arrivals and more guest nights in the first quarter of 2026 compared to last year the average visitor stayed for fewer nights and spent less. Average spend per tourist fell by 1.1% to €725, with growth in expenditure driven primarily by volume rather than higher-value visitors.
Asked why Malta is struggling to attract the higher-spending tourists the government says it wants, Abela pointed to global travel patterns.
“There is a general trend around the world that tourists are flying more but they’re flying for shorter periods,” he said.
He added that although the Deloitte findings were “good and certainly important”, the audit examined “a particular sector” of the tourism industry and its results should not be generalised.
The minister said the sector had “flourished” in recent years and that growing numbers had been the aim in the past but that the government is now “gearing up to the shift to quality tourism” by developing niche segments.
He cited diving as one example.
“The diving industry in Malta and Gozo is already thriving. We need to actually elevate it more and make it more robust,” he said, adding that the government would continue to invest in other profitable niche segments.