Post-pandemic tourism recovery going strong as July sees number of tourists reach 90% of 2019 levels

Malta’s tourism recovery is doing well, with the latest data for the month of July indicating that a return to pre-pandemic levels is in sight, despite concerns about flight connectivity.

Tourist figures reached 86 per cent of 2019 levels between April and June. The first month of the third quarter has registered even more promising rates of arrivals.

According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), total inbound tourists during July reached 89.9 per cent of those registered in 2019, while the associated nights spent made up 94.3 per cent of the respective figure.

The highest recovery can be seen in the 0-24 age bracket, which has actually registered an increase over the pre-COVID-19 figure (106.9 per cent).

The lowest recovery is associated with the 65+ age bracket, standing at only 75.7 per cent of the July 2019 figure.

Total tourist expenditure has reached 96.5 per cent of its respective pre-COVID-19 value.

This will come as welcome news to tourism stakeholders, although operators BusinessNow.mt spoke to gave varying accounts of the summer so far. Some said that the initial wave of tourists slowed down during August, and pointed to airlines’ winter schedules as a crucial factor in the long-term recovery – noting that a good month does not a whole year make.

The total number of inbound tourists for July 2022 were estimated at 273,646, while total nights spent amounted to 2,274,414.

The largest share of inbound tourists were aged between 0 and 24 (36.7 per cent), followed by the 25-44 age bracket (36.2 per cent).

Italian, French and German residents made up 37.3 per cent of total inbound tourists.