This decline was attributed to, among others, the German market, which accounted for 15.6 per cent of the market and declined by 18.6 per cent; the Dutch market, which declined by 51.6 per cent; the French market, which declined by 21.8 per cent and the Swiss market, which declined by 23.8 per cent.
Other falls in tourist departures included the Libyan, United States, Russian and Belgian markets.
On the other hand, tourist departures originating in the United Kingdom increased by three per cent and accounted for 48.2 per cent of all tourist departures during the month under study.
Other markets recording increases included the Austrian, Danish and Norwegian markets.
January to March
The first quarter of this year approximates 164,739 tourists departing from Malta, a decline of 3.2 per cent compared with a total of 170,176 tourists for the same quarter last year.
It is estimated that 46.5 per cent of all tourist departures during this period originated from the UK, a decline of 2.9 per cent when compared to the same period last year.
The German market, which accounted for 13 per cent of all tourist departures, decreased by 4.8 per cent over the same month last year. Other drops in tourist departures included the Dutch market, the Libyan, Belgian, French, Swiss, Russian and US markets.
On the other hand, the Italian market, which accounted for 8.8 per cent of all tourist departures, rose by 21.1 per cent over the same period last year. Other increases in tourist departures included the Austrian, Swedish and Norwegian market.
Accommodation
It is estimated that during the first three months of this year, the number of nights spent in the Maltese Islands by tourists departing by air amounted to a total of 1,719,092 – a decrease of 2.2 per cent over the same period last year.
The number of nights spent in hotel accommodation accounted for 70 per cent of the total nights spent in Malta. In the period under review, a total of 133,007 tourists, or 80.7 per cent of all tourists, stayed in hotels – an increase of 3.8 per cent over the previous year.
Tourism expenditure
In the period under review, expenditure on package tours to the Maltese Islands was estimated at Lm25.8 million, a decrease of Lm3.3 million or 11.6 per cent over last year. Non-package tourists spent Lm7.3 million on airfares and Lm4.5 million on accommodation, thereby increasing total expenditure on non-package travel by approximately Lm0.04 million or 0.4 per cent over the first three months of last year.
Other expenditure accruing to both package and non-package tourists decreased by Lm2.7 million to Lm18.5 million from Lm21.3 million in the same period last year.
In the period under review, total expenditure decreased by Lm6.1 million or 9.8 per cent to Lm56.1 million. As a result, per capita expenditure decreased to Lm150.5 from Lm162.3 of the same period last year.