​​​​​​​​​​I​nbound Tourism: November 2020​​​​​

14 January 2021 | 1100 hrs | 007/2021

Total inbound visitors for November were estimated at 14,936, a decrease of

92.2 per cent when compared to the corresponding month in 2019.

Inbound Tourism: November 2020

During the month under review, a total of 10,940 inbound tourist trips were undertaken for holiday purposes, while a further 2,795 were made for business purposes. Most inbound tourists were aged between 25 and 44 years (50.8 per cent), followed by those within the 45-64 age bracket (25.5 per cent) (Table 1). Inbound tourists coming from Italy were the most popular, with a share of 24.7 per cent of the total inbound tourists (Table 5).

When compared to November 2019, total nights spent went down by 82.3 per cent, amounting to 213,868 nights. The largest share of guest nights (43.5 per cent) was spent in non-rented accommodation establishments (Table 3).

Total tourist expenditure was estimated at €13.2 million, a decrease of 90.3 per cent over the corresponding month in 2019 (Table 4).

January-November 2020

Inbound tourist trips for the fi rst eleven months of 2020 amounted to 645,626, a decrease of 75.2 per cent over the same period in 2019 (Table 6). Total nights spent by inbound tourists reached nearly 5.0 million, a drop of 72.7 per cent when compared to the same period of 2019 (Table 8).

Total tourism expenditure reached nearly €442.0 million, 79.2 per cent less than that recorded during the same period in 2019 (Table 9). Total expenditure per capita stood at €685, a decrease of 15.8 per cent when compared to the same period in 2019 (Table 11) ■

Statistics in this News Release should be interpreted in the context of the COVID-19 situation.

During the COVID-19 situation, the following tourism-related sequence of events took place in 2020:

28-Feb	Passengers fl ying in from Italy, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Iran and South Korea, from
26 February onwards were requested to stay in quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.
8-Mar	Flights from/to Milan were suspended.
10-Mar	Flights from/to Italy were suspended.
10-Mar	Last cruise liner call.
11-Mar	Flights from/to France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, were suspended.
11-Mar	Passengers fl ying in from France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, were requested to stay in
quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.
13-Mar	All passengers fl ying in from all destinations were requested to stay in quarantine for 14 days upon
arrival.
18-Mar	Last Virtu' Ferries service for passengers between Malta and Sicily was operated.
21-Mar	All fl ights from/to all destinations were suspended.
	Re-opening of Malta International Airport.The fi rst group of destinations that reopened for travel
1-Jul	comprised: Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Poland, Cyprus, Switzerland, Iceland, Slovakia,
Norway, Denmark, Hungary, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Luxembourg, Czech
	Republic, Greece and Croatia.
15-Jul	Restrictions on all other fl ight destinations were lifted.
21-Aug	First cruise liner call since March 2020.

Sources: Malta Tourism Authority, Virtu' Ferries, Transport Malta, Valletta Cruise Port

Compiled by: Tourism and Education Statistics Unit	1
Contact us: National Statistics Office, Lascaris, Valletta VLT 2000
T. [phone], E. [e-mail]
https://twitter.com/NSOMALTA/		https://www.facebook.com/nsomalta/

Table 1. Profile of inbound tourists by month of departure

		November		Change	Percentage
Characteristics			change
	2018	2019	2020	2020/2019
Total inbound visitors	177,000	191,698	14,936	-176,762	-92.2
Overnight cruise passengers	1,830	588	0p	-588	-100.0
Inbound tourists	175,170	191,110	14,936	-176,174	-92.2
Mode of travel
Air	172,080	187,783	13,460	-174,322	-92.8
Sea	3,090	3,327	1,475	-1,852	-55.7
Sex
Males	89,019	99,751	9,001	-90,751	-91.0
Females	86,151	91,359	5,935	-85,423	-93.5
Age group
0-24	19,744	21,543	2,854	-18,689	-86.8
25-44	70,380	77,300	7,585	-69,715	-90.2
45-64	61,956	69,091	3,813	-65,278	-94.5
65 or more	23,090	23,175	684	-22,492	-97.0
Markets1
EU	149,537	161,825	11,334	-150,492	-93.0
of which: Euro area	86,695	92,173	9,136	-83,038	-90.1
Non-EU	25,634	29,285	3,602	-25,682	-87.7
Purpose of visit
Holiday	145,630	158,425	10,940	-147,485	-93.1
Business and professional	20,258	24,362	2,795	-21,567	-88.5
Other (including educational,	9,282	8,323	1,201	-7,122	-85.6
religious and health tourism)
Organisation of stay
Package	57,331	57,125	1,586	-55,539	-97.2
Non-package	117,839	133,985	13,350	-120,635	-90.0
Frequency
First-time tourists	118,740	137,772	8,463	-129,310	-93.9
Repeat tourists	56,430	53,338	6,473	-46,865	-87.9
once a year or less	39,106	38,161	3,613	-34,547	-90.5
more than once a year	17,324	15,177	2,860	-12,317	-81.2
Duration of visit
1-3 nights	51,936	57,915	3,095	-54,820	-94.7
4-6 nights	52,129	57,039	2,157	-54,882	-96.2
7 nights or more	71,105	76,156	9,683	-66,472	-87.3
Average length of stay (nights)	6.3	6.3	14.3	8.0	-

• Data for November 2020 is provisional.
  1 Refer to methodological notes 8 and 9. Note: Totals may not add up due to rounding.

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Table 2. Inbound tourists by month of departure and type of accommodation

		November		Change	Percentage
Type of accommodation			change
	2018	2019	2020	2020/2019
Rented accommodation	151,738	168,938	10,293	-158,645	-93.9
Collective	117,717	125,583	6,864	-118,719	-94.5
Other rented	34,021	43,355	3,429	-39,926	-92.1
Non-rented accommodation	23,432	22,172	4,643	-17,529	-79.1
Total tourists	175,170	191,110	14,936	-176,174	-92.2

Note: Totals may not add up due to rounding.

Table 3. Total nights spent by inbound tourists by month of departure and type of accommodation

		November		Change	Percentage
Type of accommodation			change
	2018	2019	2020	2020/2019
Rented accommodation	919,234	1,007,665	120,790	-886,875	-88.0
Collective	659,458	678,780	57,150	-621,631	-91.6
Other rented	259,776	328,885	63,640	-265,245	-80.6
Non-rented accommodation	189,743	201,627	93,078	-108,548	-53.8
Total nights	1,108,977	1,209,292	213,868	-995,424	-82.3

Note: Totals may not add up due to rounding.

Table 4. Total expenditure by inbound tourists by month of departure and expenditure category

					€ 000
		November		Change	Percentage
Expenditure category			change
	2018	2019	2020	2020/2019
Package	31,131	32,666	1,179ᵘ	-	-
Non-package	45,878	52,052	5,125	-46,927	-90.2
Air/sea fares	22,579	25,847	2,273	-23,575	-91.2
Accommodation	23,299	26,205	2,853	-23,352	-89.1
Other expenditure	46,497	51,498	6,939	-44,559	-86.5
Total expenditure	123,506	136,216	13,243	-122,973	-90.3

• Under represented - between 20 and 49 sample observations. Notes:
• 1. Expenditure estimates are rounded to the nearest thousand Euro.
  2. Totals may not add up due to rounding.

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Table 5. Inbound tourists, nights spent and total expenditure by month of departure

and country of residence

			November		Change	Percentage
Country of residence1			change
		2018	2019	2020	2020/2019
	EU	149,537	161,825	11,334	-150,492	-93.0
	of which:
	France	9,845	14,235	1,955	-12,280	-86.3
	Germany	18,258	17,710	1,177ᵘ	-	-
Tourists	Italy	24,206	22,294	3,695	-18,599	-83.4
Poland	7,410	8,142	923ᵘ	-	-
Spain	8,210	8,137	329ᵘ	-	-
United Kingdom	42,615	45,474	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Non-EU	25,634	29,285	3,602	-25,682	-87.7
	of which:
	United Kingdom	n/a	n/a	1,887	n/a	n/a
	Total	175,170	191,110	14,936	-176,174	-92.2
	EU	953,335	987,203	163,210	-823,993	-83.5
	of which:
	France	67,299	77,254	25,575	-51,679	-66.9
	Germany	124,852	123,548	17,977ᵘ	-	-
Nights	Italy	132,900	150,039	67,130	-82,909	-55.3
Poland	38,839	42,905	6,595ᵘ	-	-
Spain	44,790	38,002	5,273ᵘ	-	-
	United Kingdom	294,062	288,848	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Non-EU	155,642	222,089	50,658	-171,431	-77.2
	of which:
	United Kingdom	n/a	n/a	21,952	n/a	n/a
	Total	1,108,977	1,209,292	213,868	-995,424	-82.3
	EU	95,083	104,690	9,810	-94,880	-90.6
	of which:
	France	6,688	8,757	1,992	-6,765	-77.2
Expenditure (€000)	Germany	13,781	14,669	999ᵘ	-	-
Italy	12,865	11,909	3,097	-8,812	-74.0
Poland	3,840	4,322	588ᵘ	-	-
Spain	4,368	4,114	302ᵘ	-	-
United Kingdom	28,078	31,732	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Non-EU	28,423	31,526	3,433	-28,093	-89.1
	of which:
	United Kingdom	n/a	n/a	1,241	n/a	n/a
	Total	123,506	136,216	13,243	-122,973	-90.3

• Under represented - between 20 and 49 sample observations.
  1 Refer to methodological notes 8 and 9. Notes:
• 1. n/a: not applicable.
  2. Expenditure estimates are rounded to the nearest thousand Euro.
  3. Totals may not add up due to rounding.

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