(Adds government's statement)
January's positive tourism results were obtained through the work of the government, the Malta Tourism Authority and all stakeholders investing in the product, the government said this afternoon.
Earlier today, the National Statistics Office said there was an increase of 14.1 per cent in the number of inbound tourists in January, over the same month last year.
It said that there were 64,853 arrivals, spending more than 500,000 nights here, with the increase driven by private accommodationestablishments.D
A total 54,967 inbound tourist trips were carried out for holiday purposes and 6,906 for business.
Consequently holiday makers comprised the absolute majority of inbound tourists, and registered an increase of 15 per cent.
Overall, 84 per cent of inbound tourists resided in EU states.
Notable increases were registered in the French and Italian markets, although most inbound tourists were British.
Total nights spent by tourists residing outside the EU advanced by 19 per cent.
First-time visitors accounted for the majority of inbound tourists, with an estimated 61 per cent of the total.
However, repeat tourists went up by 14 per cent.
Total nights spent during January increased by 16 per cent, mainly due to a rise in private accommodation.
Guest nights in collective accommodation increased by four per cent although in absolute terms, the majority of inbound tourist nights were spent in collective accommodation.
The average length of stay for the period was calculated at 7.7 nights, marginally up by 0.1 of a night when compared to January last year.
Total expenditure was estimated at €48.8 million, 15 per cent more than in January 2010.
The government said that the government was doing its utmost to improve Malta's accessibility and last year and this year it introduced new routes to Itlay, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Poland and Scandinavian countries.
Malta saw a substantial increase in toursts from Frnace (+72.3 per cent) and from Itlay (+19.8 per cent).