MaltaMedia.com

In December 2009, hotel occupancy stood at 31.2 per cent, up by 0.9 percentage points when compared to the corresponding month last year, the NSO revealed on Monday.

In the same month, non-residents occupancy stood at 28.2 per cent, up by 0.8 per cent, while resident occupancy was 3.0 per cent. During the month of December, total arrivals in collective accommodation establishments were recorded at 65,429, an increase of 4.5 per cent over December 2008.

For the period under review, total nights spent in collective accommodation establishments were recorded at 315,346, a drop of 6.3 per cent over the corresponding month in 2008, with the largest drops being registered in the 3-star and 4-star hotel categories . The average length of stay stood at 4.8 nights.

The overall net supply of bed-places in Malta was 31,239 beds, a decrease of 9.4 per cent when compared to the corresponding month in 2008. Year-on-year figures show that the net use of bed-places in Malta increased by 1.0 percentage point to 31.8 per cent.

The average length of stay stood at 4.9 nights. Nights spent by non-residents in Malta accounted for 91.3 per cent of total guest-nights in Malta, standing at 281,479. The net supply of bed-places in Gozo and Comino stood at 1,316 beds, practically unchanged when compared with December 2008.

The net use of bed-places in December was 17.3 per cent, down by 0.9 per cent. The average length of stay stood at 2.4 nights. Nights spent by non-residents amounted to 3,519 whereas those spent by residents amounted to 3,537.