Tourist arrivals were down by 4.3 per cent in June, according to data released by the National Statistics Office yesterday.
The NSO said that inbound tourism for June was estimated at 109,038, a fall of 4.3 per cent over the corresponding month last year. The number of tourists departing by air was estimated at 107,048 – a drop of 4.6 per cent compared to June 2005.
The British market registered a fall of 16.3 per cent, to a 40.8 per cent share of the total market. Other falls included those recorded in the Russian, Libyan and Swedish markets, as well as from a group of “other” markets.
Year-on-year, air tourists from the German and French markets rose by 24.2 and 22.8 per cent respectively, jointly accounting for a share of 20.2 per cent of the total.
Other increases in tourist air departures included those from the Danish, Italian and Belgian markets. The number of holiday tourists was estimated at 89,264, a fall of 5.1 per cent over June 2005, whereas the number of business tourists went down to 8,320.
January-June 2006
In the period under review, total tourists reached 471,728, a fall of 2.4 per cent over the comparable period last year. The number of tourists departing by air was down by 2.4 per cent. The number of British, German and French tourists fell by 4.3, 4.2 and five per cent respectively, together accounting for 61.4 per cent of the total. Other falls were recorded in tourists from the Swedish, Libyan and Danish markets.
The number of Italian tourists rose by 18.9 per cent, accounting for 7.8 per cent of the total. Other increases were in tourists from the Dutch, Belgian and Norwegian markets.
The number of nights spent by tourists departing by air was estimated at 4,284,014, a reduction of 3.6 per cent compared to the same period in 2005. The number of nights spent in hotel accommodation fell by 2.8 per cent and accounted for 68.9 per cent of total nights spent.
The number of tourists opting for an overnight stay in Gozo was estimated at 17,528 – 3.7 per cent of total tourists in the first half of the year.
In the period under review, expenditure on package travel was down by Lm1 million to an estimated Lm79.5 million, a decline of 1.2 per cent over the corresponding period a year ago. Non-package tourists spent Lm18.4 million on airfares and Lm12.1 million on accommodation, a reduction in total expenditure on non-package travel of approximately Lm1.6 million, or 4.9 per cent. Other expenditure from both package and non-package tourists rose by Lm0.5 million, to Lm55.5 million.
Altogether in the period under review, total tourist expenditure was down by Lm2.1 million or 1.2 per cent.