Occupancy trends in hotels during March 2005 reveal an overall increase in the gross/net use of bed-places by type of accommodation when compared to the same month in 2004, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

This increase is due to a fall in the number of bed places from 41,088 in March 2004 to 37,740 bed places in March 2005. The highest net use level was recorded in the four-star hotel category accommodation, at 65.4 per cent. This was followed by the hostels, at 57 per cent.

Total nights spent in Malta and Gozo fell by 2.6 per cent when compared to the same month in 2004. The average nights spent totalled 6.5 in both March 2004 and March 2005. On a regional level, a decrease of 0.3 per cent in the share of nights spent by non-residents was recorded in Malta. Here, the average non-resident nights spent fell from 7.4 in March 2004 to 7.3 in March 2005.

A substantial decrease was recorded in the number of resident nights in Malta, compared to the same month in 2004. In Gozo, non-resident nights were substantially down, while the average nights spent fell from 2.8 in March 2004 to 2.6 in March 2005.

Occupancy levels: Malta

The highest occupancy levels for accommodation establishments in the island of Malta were recorded in the 4-star hotel accommodation. The three-star hotel category fell from 43.7 per cent in March 2004 to 43.2 per cent in March 2005, while occupancy for hostel accommodation increased from 49.1 per cent to 52.0 per cent. Here, other increases in occupancy levels were recorded in the aparthotel, guest-house, five-star and two-star hotel category.