981,993 guests spent time in collective accommodation establishments in 2021, the National Statistics Office said, which is an increase of 39.1% over the same period in 2020.

Such establishments include hotels, guesthouses, hostels and tourist villages.

Total nights spent went up by 56.6% when compared to 2020, reaching 4,612,905 nights. The net use of bed-places went up by 7.8 percentage points to 33.1%, the NSO said. 

Fourth Quarter

In the fourth quarter of 2021, the largest share of guest nights was reported in 4-star hotels , with 46.4% of the total. The average length of stay, in collective accommodation establishments, went up to 4.6 nights in the fourth quarter of 2021 from the average of 3.9 nights registered during the same quarter of 2020. The net use of bed-places stood at 40.9%, up by 27.4 percentage points when compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year, the NSO said.

On a national level, during December 2021, there were 213 active collective accommodation establishments with a net capacity of 17,468 bedrooms and 40,111 bed-places.

On a regional level, total guests in Malta in Q4 numbered 317,854 while number of nights spent stood at 1,487,668. Total guests and nights in Gozo (and Comino) increased to 19,729 and 54,060 respectively from 13,122 and 28,501 registered in 2020. When compared with the same quarter of the previous year, in Malta, the average length of stay went up by 0.6 of a night to 4.7 nights. In Gozo and Comino the average length of stay increased by 0.6 of a night to 2.7 nights. The net occupancy rate in Malta increased by 28 percentage points, reaching 41.2%, and that in Gozo and Comino increased by 14.6 percentage points to 32.9%.