2023 breaks records for highest number of tourism arrivals in Malta’s history

2023 proved to be a record-breaker in tourism numbers. This was revealed by the National Statistics Office (NSO), whose figures revealed that the total inbound tourists for the year of 2023 amounted to 2,975,670.

This marked a 30.1 per cent rise when compared to the corresponding period in 2022. 2023’s record figure breaks earlier record set in 2019, that of 2,771,888 visitors to the islands.

Overall, NSO noted that in 2023 the total tourist expenditure was estimated at €2.7 billion, an increase of 32.7 per cent than that recorded for 2022.

The total nights spent by inbound tourists also increased by 21.9 per cent, exceeding 20.2 million nights. Additionally, an increase was also noted in the expenditure per capita, from €880 in 2022 to €898 in 2023.

Expanding further on figures recorded in December 2023, NSO explained that a during the month under review a total of 144,301 tourists vised the islands for holiday purposes. Meanwhile, 9,156 tourists visited for business purposes. 84.8 per cent of which chose to stay in rented accommodation establishments.

The majority of the tourists were aged between 25 and 44 years old at 42.1 per cent, followed by the 45-64 age bracket at 32.1 per cent.

In total, British, Italian and Polish residents made up for 45.4 per cent of total inbound tourists.

In December the total nights spent by tourists also increased. With a marked rise of 9.9 per cent when compared to the corresponding month in 2022, tourists spent almost 1.1 million nights in Malta.

Meanwhile the average length of stay of total inbound tourists stood at 6.7 nights.

The overall spending by tourists nearly reached €116.7 million, marking a 15 per cent rise compared to the same month in 2022. The average expenditure per night was estimated at €109.8.