Tourism recovery: June saw number of visitors to Malta reach 88% of 2019 levels

June 2022 saw a total of 243,956 people visiting Malta for holiday or business purposes. When compared with June 2019 levels, a record-year for tourism on the island and the last full year without pandemic-related disruption, Malta reached 88 per cent of the 280,522 visitors who visited at the time.

An essential pillar of Malta’s economy, tourism figures are closely watched in order to assess the island’s post pandemic recovery. And, with people’s disposable income wearing thin thanks to widespread inflation across Europe and much of the world, as well as a plethora of stories surrounding disruption in the aviation industry, concerns had been raised that Malta’s chances of a quick economic recovery being hampered.

In June 2022, according to the National Statistics Office, total tourist expenditure reached almost €216 million, while the average spend per night was estimated at €136.9.

When compared to the same period in 2019, June 2022 tourist expenditure was close to experiencing a full pre-pandemic rebound, reaching 91.7 per cent of 2019 levels.

As for nights spent on the island, June 2022 saw around 1.6 million nights, clocking in at 82 per cent of June 2019 levels.

The NSO said the largest category of recovery can be seen in the 0-24 age bracket (91.7 per cent). The national statistics unit did not speculate as to why, however when considering the closure of English Language schools for much of the pandemic, the resumption of students visiting Malta to learn the language could be a main driver of children and young adults returning to the island.

It was also found that the segment of inbound tourists visiting Malta for business purposes experienced a better recovery (109.1 per cent) than that of tourists visiting Malta for holiday purposes (86.8 per cent).

In June 2022, 218,462 visitors came to Malta for holiday, compared to 16,953 people who visited for business.