Travel & Tourism
5.3% increase in bed-place occupancy in June
By MaltaMedia News
Aug 24, 2007 - 1:34:59 PM

Bed-place occupancy in collective accommodation establishments, such as hotels and guesthouses, went up by 5.3% to stand at 66.2% in June this year when compared to the corresponding month in 2006, reported the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Friday.

This was underpinned by an increase in guest-nights, mainly attributable to the 5-star and other collective accommodation categories, as well as to lower supply of bed-places, in particular the 4-star and 3-star categories.

Total nights spent in collective accommodation establishments last June also increased over the corresponding month in 2006, up by 4.3% to stand at 751,695. Year-on-year, the average length of stay in collective accommodation establishments fell by 0.5 nights to 6.1 nights.

Accounting for 95.8% of the national bed-stock, the overall supply of bed-places in the Malta region stood at 36,859 beds, a decrease of 2.5% when compared to the previous year. On an annual basis, the net use of bed-places in the Malta region went up by 4.9% to 66.0 per cent. Year-on-year, the average length of stay went down by 0.6 nights to 6.2 nights. Nights spent by non-residents accounted for 97.5% of total guest-nights in Malta.

In the Gozo and Comino region, the overall supply of bed-places stood at 1,633 beds, a decrease of 8.3% over the comparable month a year earlier. The net use of bed-places in June was 69.8%, an increase of 13.2% over the same month in 2006. The average length of stay stood at 4.3 nights, down by 0.4 nights when compared to June last year. Nights spent by non-residents accounted for 80.0 per cent of total guest-nights in Gozo.