In September 2006, total nights spent in collective accommodation establishments were recorded at 760,623, a decrease of 4.5 per cent over the corresponding month in 2005, the National Statistics Office reported yesterday.

Year on year, the average length of stay in collective accommodation establishments remained unchanged at 6.3 nights.

Accounting for 95.5 per cent of the national bed-stock, the overall supply of bed places in the Malta region stood at 38,234 beds, an increase of 4.9 per cent when compared to a year earlier.

On an annual basis, the net use of bed places in the Malta region went down by 6.4 percentage points to 63.6 per cent in September 2006. Year on year, the average length of stay was virtually unchanged at 6.4 nights.

In the Gozo and Comino region, the overall supply of bed places stood at 1,790 beds, an increase of 3.8 per cent over the comparable month last year.

The net use of bed places in September was at 61.3 per cent, a decrease of 1.6 percentage points over the same month last year. The average length of stay was at 4.2 nights, down by 0.5 nights when compared to September 2005.