English language students are thought to have spent around €155 million in Malta last year, according to a report from auditing firm Deloitte.
The amount accounted for almost 6% of total tourist spending last year and more than 9% of the total guest nights spent in tourist accommodation, Deloitte said.
While non-EU/EEA students accounted for only one-quarter of the total student arrivals, they typically studied for longer, representing almost 60% of the total number of student weeks, the report said.
The EEA, or European Economic Area, comprises 27 EU states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
Malta also managed to attract more students in autumn and winter, with the proportion of student weeks taking place in the first and last quarters of the year up to almost ten percentage points (41%) compared to the previous year.
The figures came to light in a Deloitte survey of language schools belonging to the Federation of English Language Teaching Organisations Malta (FELTOM).
FELTOM schools include Alpha School of English, AM Language, BELS, Berlitz English Language Academy, Cavendish School of English, Clubclass, Easy School of Languages, EC, ESE, Inlingua Malta, IELS, NSTS and Sprachcaffe.
The schools reported a jump in total revenues by just under 11% compared to 2019, with revenue per student week increasing by almost 18% and accommodation rising by just over 7% compared to results from five years ago, the report said.
The increased revenues are thought to have been driven by higher tuition and accommodation fees and the number of student weeks rising by just over 15% compared to 2019.
The number of English language students last year also increased compared to 2022 but remained behind pre-pandemic levels, however.
Last year, almost 78,600 students came to Malta to study English, an increase of more than 20,000 from the year before (56,700), according to the National Statistics Office – an increase FELTOM chairperson Rebecca Bonnici pointed to as proof the sector was “on the mend.”
In 2019, Malta welcomed almost 83,600 English language students, a number that plummeted the following year by more than 80% as the coronavirus took its toll on the sector.