In July 2007, total nights spent in collective accommodation establishments were recorded at 1,147,186, an increase of 18.6 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 decreased by 0.1 nights to 7.6 nights.

Regional overview

Accounting for 96.1 per cent of the national bed stock, the overall supply of bed places in the Malta region stood at 40,736 beds, an increase of 6 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 9.5 percentage points to 87.9 per cent. Year-on-year, the average length of stay remained unchanged at 7.8 nights. Nights spent by non-residents accounted for 97.9 per cent of total guest nights in Malta.

In Gozo and Comino, the overall supply of bed places stood at 1,662 beds, a decrease of 5.7 per cent over the comparable month a year earlier. The net use of be places in July was 80.8 per cent, an increase of 16.5 percentage points over the same month in 2006. The average length of stay stood at 4.9 nights, up by 0.3 nights when compared to July last year. Nights spent by non-residents accounted for 81.9 per cent of total guest nights.

In July, bed-place occupancy in collective accommodation establishments went up by 9.8 percentage points when compared to the corresponding month in 2006.

Occupancy trends

The overall occupancy rate in collective accommodation establishments (net use) went up by 9.8 percentage points in July 2007 when compared to the same month a year earlier, to stand at 87.6 per cent. The latter was underpinned by an increase in guest nights across all categories.