Increase in tourists choosing Gozo

The number of tourist departures in May reached 112,559, an increase of 7,157, or 6.8 per cent, over the same month last year, according to the National Statistics Office.

German tourists, who accounted for 14.9 per cent of the market, more than doubled compared to last year. Other increases in tourist departures were recorded from the United Kingdom, Austria, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the US and a group of "other" markets.

On the other hand, Italian tourists, who accounted for 4.8 per cent of the total, decreased by three per cent when compared to the same month last year. Other drops in tourist departures included those from Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Russia and Libya.

During the January-May period, tourist departures reached 369,632, an increase of 6,338, or 1.7 per cent, over the same period last year.

The German market, which accounted for 13.4 per cent of all tourist departures, increased by 14 per cent. Increases in tourist departures were also recorded in the Austrian, Danish, French, Dutch, Swedish and a group of "other" markets.

Tourists from the British market, which accounted for 41.1 per cent, decreased by 1.1 per cent. Other declining markets included those from Belgium, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Russia, Libya and the US.

In the first five months of the year, the number of nights spent by tourists was estimated at 3,434,710, an increase of 0.7 per cent over the same period last year. The number of nights spent in hotel accommodation establishments decreased by 0.9 per cent and accounted for 69.2 per cent of the total nights spent.

Tourists opting for Gozo as their main accommodation reached 10,810 and increased by 4.8 per cent when compared to last year.

Expenditure on package tours in this five-month period was estimated at Lm62.2 million, an increase of Lm 2.2 million, or 3.6 per cent, when compared to last year. Non-package tourists spent Lm14.5 million on airfares and Lm 9 million on accommodation thereby increasing total expenditure on non-package travel by about Lm1.9 million, or 8.9 per cent.

Other expenditure from both package and non-package tourists altogether increased by Lm 0.4 million to Lm 40,998,931 in January - May from Lm40,556,202 in the same period last month. As a result, total expenditure increased by Lm4.5 million, or 3.7 per cent, and per capita expenditure increased to Lm172.8 from Lm170.1.