American tourists are flocking to St Peter’s Pool, new GO data shows

American tourists appear to have developed a particular fondness for St Peter’s Pool, with new data showing that around one in five of their visits to major Maltese attractions were recorded at the popular Delimara swimming spot.

“The pattern is striking: USA visitors are deliberately seeking dramatic, photographable, less mass-market coastal scenery rather than the north-coast sandy beaches,” the authors of the new GO Trends study said.

This emerged from a new study by GO, based on anonymised roaming signals on its network between January to March 2026, sought to track tourist movement patterns across Malta. 

The data covered seven nationalities – Australians, Hungarians, Italians, Poles, Swiss, Brits, and Americans.

After analysing data from 16 major heritage, cultural, beach and entertainment attractions, the study found that St Peter’s Pool was the most popular sport for US tourists, absorbing around 20 per cent of all American signals in Q1. 

American share at the site reaches around 14 per cent, against a US baseline closer to three per cent across other attractions, roughly a 4x over-index. 

Meanwhile, US share collapses below three per cent at Golden Sands or Għadira Bay.

Other key findings from the study show that 49 per cent of signals from Ħaġar Qim were Polish, while Italians were more likely to gravitate towards Mdina and St John’s Co-Cathedral. 

Polish travellers alone make up 62 per cent of morning signals from Mellieħa and 60 per cent from Qawra, while Italians make up 69 per cent of evening signals from Bormla. 

GO argues that Mellieħa and Qawra operations should be built around Polish preferences, while restaurants and bars in the Three Cities must ensure they cater to Italians. 

In Paceville, UK travellers account for 33 per cent, Italy 29 per cent and Poland 24 per cent, making the nightlife district unique in attracting three near-equal markets simultaneously. 

The report also found that Hungary is a small but rapidly growing tourism market, with Hungarian morning presence rising around 82 per cent from January to March – the steepest growth of any nationality in the morning dataset. 

Hungarian visitors also over-index at Ħaġar Qim and Marsaxlokk market, indicating a culture-led traveller profile.

Cover photo: Malta Tourism Authority