Tourism dropped by 9.3 percent last month compared to the same month last year, the NSO said this morning.

The NSO said that according to the ongoing frontier survey, 125,878 tourists came to Malta by air, reflecting a drop of 9.3 percent when compared to October 2007.

Results showed that 84.2 percent of inbound tourists in October came to Malta on holiday, while 8.7 percent visited for business purposes.

Total nights spent in Malta decreased by 12.3 percent when compared to the same month last year. Year on year, total nights spent in private accommodation decreased by 18.4 percent, and the collective accommodation category registered a drop of 9.7 percent.

The average length of stay was calculated at 8.3 nights, down by 0.3 nights when compared to October 2007.

The NSO said that inbound tourists for the first 10 months were estimated at 1,172,109, an increase of 5.6 percent over the corresponding period a year ago. The growth was mostly attributable to an increase in holiday visits, mainly from the Spanish, Italian and German markets. Decreases were recorded in the American, British and Libyan markets.