Four-star hotels see largest share of guest nights in final quarter of 2020

Total guests and nights spent in collective accommodation establishments, that is hotels, guesthouses, hostels, tourist villages, holiday complexes and BnBs, decreased by 75.6 per cent and 79.2 per cent respectively, when comparing Q4 2020 with the same period in 2019.

According to figures released by the National Statistics Office, in the fourth quarter of 2020, total guests in collective accommodation establishments numbered 118,482, while total nights stood at 459,381. The largest share of guest nights was reported in 4-star hotels with 39.6 per cent of the total.

The average length of stay in hotels and similar accommodation went down to 3.9 nights in the period under review from the average of 4.5 nights registered during the same quarter of 2019.

The net use of bed-places stood at 13.4 per cent, down by 43.7 percentage points when compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

On a national level, during December 2020, there were 176 active collective accommodation establishments with a net capacity of 15,308 bedrooms and 35,419 bed-places.

Regional breakdown

On a regional level, total guests in Malta numbered 105,360, down by 77.3 per cent over the fourth quarter of 2019. Additionally, a decrease of 79.9 per cent was recorded in the number of nights spent.

Total guests and nights in Gozo and Comino decreased by 38.3 per cent and 55.4 per cent, to 13,122 and 28,501 respectively.

When compared with the same quarter of the previous year, in Malta, the average length of stay went down by 0.5 of a night to 4.1 nights.

In Gozo and Comino the average length of stay also decreased by 0.8 of a night to 2.2 nights.

The net occupancy rate in Malta decreased by 44.9 percentage points, reaching 13.2 per cent, and that in Gozo and Comino decreased by 18.6 percentage points to 18.4 per cent.

January-December 2020

Total guests in 2020 amounted to 705,337, a decrease of 65.1 per cent over the same period in 2019. Total nights spent went down by 70.3 per cent, surpassing 2.9 million.