In April 2006, inbound tourism was estimated at 97,784, an increase of 10.8 per cent over the corresponding month last year. Tourists departing by air were estimated at 97,124, an increase of 11.1 per cent when compared to April 2005.

The Italian, British and German markets registered increases, altogether making up a share of 62.6 per cent of the total market. Other increases included those recorded from the Russian, Norwegian and Belgian markets, as well as from a group of other markets.

Tourists from the French market went down by 23.2 per cent when compared to the same month in 2005, accounting for a share of 8.7 per cent of the total. Other drops included those from the Danish, Swedish and Libyan markets.

The number of holiday tourists was estimated at 77,674, an increase of 8.9 per cent over April 2005, whereas business tourists went up to 10,376.

January-April 2006

In the period under review, total tourists reached 259,950, an increase of 1.1 per cent over the comparable period last year. Tourists departing by air increased by 1.5 per cent. Across air and sea, increases were recorded in the Italian, German and British markets, at 15.0 per cent, 3.9 per cent and 2.8 per cent respectively. Other increases included those from the Swedish, Danish and Belgian markets.

In the period under review, the number of nights spent by tourists departing by air was estimated at 2,401,666, a decrease of 1.5 per cent when compared to the corresponding period in 2005. The number of nights spent in hotel accommodation establishments remained practically at the same level as a year earlier, constituting 72.4 per cent of total nights spent.

Tourists opting for an overnight stay in Gozo were estimated at 6,924 – 2.6 per cent of total tourists in the first four months of the year.

In the period under review, expenditure on package travel decreased by Lm3.2 million to an estimated Lm40.6 million, a decline of 7.2 per cent over the corresponding period a year ago. Non-package tourists spent Lm10.3 million on air fares and Lm7.0 million on accommodation, thereby increasing total expenditure on non-package travel by approximately Lm1.5 million or 9.2 per cent. Other expenditure by both package and non-package tourists increased by 2.5 per cent to Lm29.0 million. Overall in the period under review, total tourist expenditure decreased by Lm1.0 million or 1.2 per cent.