Air travel up nearly 10%

A total of 27,349 Maltese passengers went abroad by air in January and February, an increase of 9.9 per cent over the same period last year, according to the National Statistics Office.

The most popular destination was the United Kingdom, which accounted for 27.4 per cent of total Maltese departures, a 9.4 per cent increase over the same two months last year.

There was also a substantial increase in the number of Maltese visiting Tunisia, the NSO said.

Other main destinations in the first two months of the year were Italy (19.3 per cent), France (3.1 per cent), Tunisia (9.4 per cent) and Germany (4.8 per cent).

However, the number travelling to France declined by 44.6 per cent, to Germany by 3.7 per cent, Italy by 12.5 per cent, Spain by 42.3 per cent and the Netherlands by 1.8 per cent.

There were 13,491 Maltese passengers during February. Of these, 13,232 departed by air - an increase of 2.8 per cent over the same month last year. 97.8 per cent of the Maltese departing by air in February went abroad for less than six months, while only a small fraction, 0.3 per cent, went abroad for 12 months or more.

97.7 per cent of the Maltese passengers departing in both months spent less than six months away from Malta. 0.2 per cent spent 12 months or more.