In December 2007, total nights spent in collective accommodation establishments were recorded at 395,850, an increase of 5.3 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 increased by 0.3 nights to 5.5 nights.

Regional overview

In the month under review, the overall supply of bed-places in the island of Malta stood at 36,404 beds, accounting for 95.7 per cent of the national bed-stock and implying a decrease of 3.5 per cent when compared to the same month in 2006. On an annual basis, the net use of bed-places in the island of Malta went up by 1.5 percentage points to 35.8 per cent. Year on year, the average length of stay decreased by 0.4 nights to 5.7 nights. Nights spent by non-residents accounted for 92.1 per cent of total guest-nights in Malta.

In Gozo and Comino, the overall supply of bed-places stood at 1,646 beds, a decrease of 7.8 per cent over the comparable month a year earlier. The net use of bed-places in December was 20.5 per cent, an increase of 2.3 percentage points over the same month in

2006. The average length of stay stood at 2.4 nights, a decrease of 0.2 nights from the preceding year. Nights spent by non-residents accounted for 54.3 per cent of total guest-nights in Gozo.