During the publication of MHRA's Q3 2025 Hospitality Performance Survey on Friday, MHRA President Tony Zahra stated to Tourism Minister Ian Borg in attendance that "you are in an excellent position to take decisions, because everyone is doing well."

Zahra was referencing the successful results published for this sector across this year's third quarter. Malta attracted a "record-breaking" 1.27 million inbound tourists in Q3 2025 - an improvement of 9.3% from the same quarter last year, which saw 1.2 million tourists visit Malta.

Through these results, it is expected that the total number of inbound tourists coming to Malta across 2025 either comes close to 4 million visitors or exceeds this amount.

After the first three quarters, just over 3 million tourists were said to have come to Malta. Throughout all of 2024, an annual record of 3.5 million tourists had visited the Maltese islands. These tourism numbers are projected to be exceeded once again.

Guest nights in all types of accommodation also reported an increase from Q3 2024, improving by 6.9%. The average length of stay of inbound tourists was found to have decreased slightly from 7.2 days to 7 days, following this international trend of observed shorter trips.

Tourists' total spend during this peak period also increased by 16.1% when compared to Q3 last year, shooting up from €1.2 million to €1.4 million.

Zahra said that the country should view these numbers in appreciation and remember how difficult it was to get here. He said that when he tells foreign tourism stakeholders about the biggest issues impacting Maltese hospitality - namely lacking human resources - they note Europe's struggling major economies hunching a much more negative outlook over their sector.

Zahra called upon all tourism and hospitality stakeholders to keep pulling the same rope and to keep up this momentum together with the government.

This call for unity reverberated the words of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism and Foreign Affairs, Ian Borg. Borg said that in light of these positive results, the government cannot continue alone and that it requires genuine collaboration from the Nationalist Party in Opposition and industry stakeholders.

Minister Borg said that he aims to keep enriching the tourism sector's competitive edge and that the government's vision for the future of this sector "goes beyond numbers." He declared that the country is striving for improved community wellbeing and environmental sustainability to improve this sector into the long-term. He remarked that sustainability is not just a label, but a factor that provides a competitive advantage that lowers cost while enhancing Malta's international reputation. Borg added that through the importance of prioritising long-term sustainability, this industry should not introduce measures that may compromise its competitiveness.

The Deputy Prime Minister highlighted that while the peak summer period noted great performance, improvement was also noted during the off-peak months of this year.

He mentioned that despite tourists staying in the country for less time, total tourist expenditure rose by 16.1% from Q3 2024 - from €1.26 million last year to €1.47 million in Q3 this year.

In addition, tourists' average daily spend also went up, this mark by 8.7% from Q3 last year - up to €164.31 per head.

Occupancy rates for 5-star and 4-star hotels remained around the same at 83.2% (0.5% drop) and 93.4% respectively (0.2% decrease). Meanwhile, 3-star hotels observed an occupancy rate of 88.6%, which is 2.2% lower than what was reached during this same period last year.

That being said, average daily rates (ADR) for all levels of these hotels improved significantly over the past year. When comparing Q3 results between 2025 and 2024, 5-star hotels reported an ADR of €264.5 (a 5.5% increase), 4-star hotels reported an ADR of €147.2 (a 3.9% increase), and 3-star establishments achieved an ADR of €125.5 (a 3.6% increase).

It was observed that 5-star and 4-star hotels delivered "quite good" performances, with 3-star establishments lagging partially behind.

During this Q3 Hospitality Performance Presentation, Minister Borg noted that with operators reporting increased payroll costs and employee retention difficulties, "these pressures must guide the decisions we make."

He added that "when the industry is stretched, we must be honest about what is feasible and what may make matters worse." In this regard, he questioned the feasibility of introducing a 4-day working week, stating that this proposal must be "evaluated responsibly" and appropriately.

The Deputy Prime Minister asked if people calling for a four-day week are ready to receive four-day wages, noting that this question factors into the feasibility of this potentially radical change.

During this past annual budget, the government announced that it is increasing tourists' eco-contribution from €0.50 per tourist head per night spent in Malta to €1.50. Minister Borg said that this updated eco-contribution will be funding the regeneration of St. Julian's, Paceville, Sliema, Gżira, and other areas.

During this performance survey presentation, it was noted that slow booking pace seems to be a confirmed trend within Malta's tourist market. Bookings for the rest of November and this December still stand relatively low, though accommodation operators are not fretting at this, and are expecting bookings to come over the coming weeks.

It was also observed that booking patterns for 5-star hotels this year are similar to last year's booking patterns, even though no grand Sigma conference was organised and held in Malta this November, as it was in late 2024. Booking patterns for 4-star hotels are slightly slower than last year, it was said.