Overall occupancy rate in accommodation establishments fell by 3.7 per cent in October, compared to the same month in 2005, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

The overall occupancy rate in collective accommodation establishments now stands at 56.6 per cent.

The NSO said that, in October, total nights spent in accommodation establishments were recorded at 686,919, which reflects a fall of 4.7 per cent over the corresponding month in 2005.

Year-on-year, the average length of stay in collective accommodation establishments was down by 0.1 nights, to stand at 6.4 nights.

Accounting for 95.6 per cent of the national bed-stock, the overall supply of bed-places in the Malta region stood at 38,009 beds, an increase of one per cent compared to a year earlier.

On an annual basis, the net use of bed-places in the Malta region fell by 4.2 percentage points to 56.8 per cent in October. Year-on-year, the average length of stay was down by 0.1 nights, to stand at 6.5 nights.

In the Gozo and Comino region, the overall supply of bed-places stood at 1,753 beds, a reduction of 4.8 per cent over the comparable month last year.

The net use of bed-places in October stood at 51.5 per cent, an increase of 3.9 percentage points over the same month last year, mainly because of lower bed-stock capacity. The average length of stay was at 4.5 nights, up by 0.2 nights compared to October 2005.