Online sex shops in Malta have experienced a spike in sales since the COVID-19 outbreak, with two sex shops saying their purchases had tripled.

Over the last six weeks, Pleasure Malta sold three times as many sex products compared to the norm, according to its operations manager.

‘COVID-19 kits’, which include self-quarantine sex toys to keep couples, living together or apart, entertained during the lockdown, had even sold out.

“We are seeing people buying a solo kit for their partners, who are living separate from them,” the manager pointed out.

“Clients are being very creative when it comes to maintaining a sexual connection despite living away from each other.”  

Clients are being very creative when it comes to maintaining a sexual connection despite living away from each other

He added that the company had seen a jump in sales of condoms possibly due to the public having been urged by the health authorities to delay pregnancies. 

Director of Online Intimates Lydon Laudi also reported a 300 per cent boom in sales. 

“It’s like Valentine Day’s period. We can definitely say that interest in our products has increased among the Maltese since COVID-19,” he said.

While foreigners living in Malta had always purchased more sex toys than the Maltese, a couple of weeks into the pandemic, Maltese buyers rose to equal foreigners in ratio, he said.

“Seventy per cent of our clients in Malta used to be foreigners living here, and the remainder Maltese. But over this period we have seen the number of Maltese clientele rise to half, and now I would say it has stabilised at 40 per cent,” Laudi said.

High-tech sex toys were the most popular items during this period, but Laudi said interest in them had been growing before the outbreak of the virus.

Sales at Toy Pleasure have risen by 20 per cent over the period, though it was possibly boosted by a strong marketing campaign, apart from the partial lockdown, director Flavio Liciardello said. 

Temple of Pleasure director Maria Stoycheva said that while their company had recorded a 20 per cent increase in sales during the beginning of the pandemic, business had since stabilised.

How has COVID-19 affected relationships and intimacy?

The effect of COVID-19 on relationships and intimacy had been a mixed bag so far, according to the founder of mental health clinic Willingness.

“The additional time couples have for each other, the fact that many had been forced to move in together because of social distancing or quarantine measures, had led to improved intimacy in some cases,” Matthew Bartolo said.

He pointed out that for other couples, however, this togetherness was adding tension to their relationships, and along with other virus-related anxieties, was having an adverse effect on their sex lives.

The team of professionals at Willingness are currently gathering more data to understand these trends better in an internal survey.