Updated 1pm

Tourists visiting Malta in May increased, reaching 265,701 visitors - who spent less time on the island but more money when compared to the same time last year, according to figures released by the National Statistics Office.

Inbound tourists coming to Malta in May increased by 1.3 per cent compared to May 2018. They, however, spent less time on the island as figures for nights spent dipped for the first time in four years.

Even though the nights spent dropped by 3.6 per cent for May, when compared to May 2018, tourist expenditure increased by 3.3 per cent reaching an estimated €203.5 million.

This was the first dip in nights spent, compared to the same period the previous year, since June 2015.

According to figures released by the NSO total nights spent dropped from 1.7 million in May 2018, to over 1.6 million this May. The largest share of guest nights (54.4 per cent) was spent in collective accommodation establishments.

The average length of stay in nights dropped from 6.6 nights in May 2017 and May 2018, to 6.3 nights in May this year.

While there was an increase in stays of 1-3 nights (from 54,499 to 66,839) and 4-6 nights (72,821 to 86, 997), there was a substantial dip in stays of 7 nights or more - from 123,559 to 108,239.

Tourists spending more

Figures showed that tourists are spending more. Total tourist expenditure was estimated at €203.5 million, an increase of 3.3 per cent over the corresponding month in 2018.

A look at the total expenditure by tourists, showed a decrease in expenditure on package holidays but a substantial increase (23.4 per cent) in non-package.

A total of 233,139 inbound tourist trips were carried out for holiday purposes, while a further 18,204 were undertaken for business purposes. Inbound tourists from non-EU countries went up by 21.5 per cent when compared to the corresponding month in 2018. Most inbound tourists were aged between 25 and 44 (42.7 per cent), followed by those within the 45-64 age bracket (29.5 per cent).

The picture for the first five months

A look at the figures for January to May collectively showed that inbound tourist trips for the first five months of 2019 amounted to 929,979, an increase of 2.8 per cent over the same period in 2018. Total nights spent by inbound tourists went up by 1.6 per cent, surpassing 5.9 million nights.

Total tourism expenditure was estimated at €648.1 million, 3.2 per cent higher than that recorded for 2018.

Total expenditure per capita stood at €697, an increase of 0.4 per cent when compared to 2018.