In January 2007, total nights spent in collective accommodation establishments were recorded at 355,112, an increase of 4.2 per cent over the corresponding month in 2006, the National Statistics Office reported yesterday.

Year on year, the average length of stay in collective accommodation establishments remained unchanged at 7.7 nights.

Accounting for 95.8 per cent of the national bed stock, the overall supply of bed places in the Malta region stood at 36,616 beds, a decrease of three per cent when compared to the previous year. On an annual basis, the net use of bed-places in the Malta region went up by 3.4 percentage points to 34.8 per cent in January 2007. Year on year, the average length of stay remained the same at 7.9 nights.

In the Gozo and Comino region, the overall supply of bed places stood at 1,622 beds, a decrease of 2.7 per cent over the comparable month a year earlier.

The net use of bed places in January was at 14.4 per cent, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points over the same month in 2006.

The average length of stay was at 2.7 nights, down by 0.1 nights when compared to January 2006.

In January 2007, bed-place occupancy in collective accommodation establishments went up by three percentage points when compared to the corresponding month in 2006.

The overall occupancy rate in collective accommodation establishments (net use) went up by thee percentage points in January 2007 when compared to the same month a year earlier, to stand at 34 per cent.