The total number of tourists who came to Malta in July is almost 90 per cent of the total inbound tourists in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the National Statistics Office said on Wednesday.

It said inbound tourists for July 2022 were estimated at 273,646.  247,029 inbound tourists visited Malta for holiday purposes, and 11,092 tourists came for business purposes.

The total nights spent amounted to 2.27 million, which is almost 95 per cent of the July 2019 figure, the NSO said.

Malta attracted more young tourists than it had in July 2019 (106.9 per cent) but considerably fewer over-65s (75.7 per cent).

The largest share of inbound tourists was in those under 24 years old followed by the 25-44 age bracket. Italian, French and German residents made up 37.3 per cent of total inbound tourists.

The largest share of guest nights (83.6 per cent) was spent in rented accommodation establishments. The average length of stay of total inbound tourists stood at 8.3 nights. Total tourist expenditure reached €275.0 million. The average expenditure per night was estimated at €120.9.

During the first seven months of 2022, inbound tourists amounted to 1,168,741, while the total nights spent nearly reached 8.3 million nights. Total tourist expenditure was estimated at €970.9 million. Total expenditure per capita stood at €831, decreasing from €946 in 2021. Total tourist expenditure has reached 96.5 per cent of its respective pre-COVID-19 value.