Hospitality sector receives record number of guests in first quarter of 2023

Malta’s hospitality sector providers received 408,989 guests during the first three months of 2023, with four-star hotels capturing almost half of all the guests.

This is more guests than any other first quarter on record, surpassing the 2018 record of 397,521 guests, demonstrating a very strong recovery for the industry. Guests include both tourists coming from abroad, but also residents in Malta choosing to have a staycation.

The total number of nights spent stood at 1,659,501, still shy of pre-COVID-19 levels. The average length was recorded to be 4.1 nights, same figures which were reported in 2022.

Meanwhile, the net use of bed-spaces increased by 16 per cent over the previous year, to 45.3 per cent.

As of March 2023, there were a total of 257 active collective accommodation establishments with a net capacity of 18,114 bedrooms sharing a total of 41,355 bed-spaces.

Comparing the two islands, Malta received the lion’s share of the market, receiving 96.3 per cent of all the guest, while Gozo received the rest. When compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the net occupancy rate in Malta increased by 16.6 percentage points, reaching 46.3 per cent, and that in Gozo and Comino increase by 1.9 percentage points to 22.0 per cent.

Coupled with the record-breaking number of inbound tourists received thus far, 2023 is en route to becoming Malta's busiest year for the tourism sector thus far.