The number of Maltese residents who travelled abroad throughout 2021 increased by 54% over 2020, a year marred by port closures caused by the COVID pandemic.

Data published by the National Statistics Office on Monday shows there was a total of 303,067 outbound tourist trips between January and December of 2021. 

This is an increase of 54.2per cent over 2020.

Travellers also spent more time abroad than in 2020: the total nights abroad went up by 71.3 per cent, surpassing 2.8 million nights.

Additionally, the total estimated outlay by resident tourists stood at €252.6 million - an increase of 80.9 per cent over that recorded for the same period in 2020.

The NSO noted these statistics should be interpreted in the context of the COVID situation, when the following tourism-related sequence of events took place in 2020:

Sources: Malta Tourism Authority, Virtu’ Ferries, Transport Malta and Valletta Cruise Port. Table: NSOSources: Malta Tourism Authority, Virtu’ Ferries, Transport Malta and Valletta Cruise Port. Table: NSO

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