Less than fifth of hotel beds used in second quarter of 2021

Hotel occupancy between March and June of 2021 reached 18.7 per cent, a big jump over the 6.5 per cent registered during the same period of 2020.

During most of the second quarter of 2020, Malta’s borders were closed as restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic were at their height.

The figure remains a far cry from the figures seen in previous years. In 2019, 73.6 of all bed space was used, while in 2018 the figure stood at 74.9 per cent*.

The figures emerge from a release by the National Statistics Office, which revealed that the total guests in collective accommodation establishments during the second quarter of 2021 numbered 143,773, while total nights spent amounted to 596,740.

Collective accommodation includes 2 to 5-star hotels, guesthouses, hostels and tourist villages.

During the period under review, the largest share of guest nights was reported in 4-star hotels and 3-star hotels, with 40.2 per cent and 27.4 per cent of the total respectively.

The average length of stay in collective accommodation establishments went up to 4.2 nights in the second quarter of 2021 from the average of 3.7 nights registered during the same quarter of 2020.

On a national level, during June 2021, there were 198 active collective accommodation establishments with a net capacity of 17,951 bedrooms and 41,647 bed-places (Table 4).

Regional breakdown

On a regional level, total guests in Malta numbered 132,442 while number of nights spent stood at 569,119.

Total guests and nights in Gozo and Comino increased to 11,331 and 27,621 respectively from 3,477 and 8,796 registered in 2020.

When compared with the same quarter of the previous year, in Malta, the average length of stay went up by 0.3 of a night to 4.3 nights. In Gozo and Comino the average length of stay decreased by 0.1 of a night to 2.4 nights.

The net occupancy rate in Malta increased by 12.6 percentage points, reaching 18.5 per cent, and that in Gozo and Comino increased by 5.7 percentage points to 23.4 per cent.

January-June 2021

Total guests in the first six months of 2021 amounted to 225,355, a decrease of 30.0 per cent over the same period in 2020.

Total nights spent went down by 35.4 per cent, reaching 901,854 nights. The net use of bed-places declined by 16.1 percentage points to 14.6 per cent.

*The occupancy rate, known as the net use of bed-places, is calculated for all active accommodation establishments, net of seasonal closures and other temporary closures.

The occupancy of bed-places is calculated by dividing the total nights during the reference period by the number of bed-places and the number of days when the bed-places are actually available for use during the reference period, with he result then multiplied by 100 to express the occupancy rate as a percentage.