Malta’s tourism scene had an amazing boost in 2024, with 3.56 million visitors flocking to the islands, according to the latest stats from the NSO. That’s a 19.5% increase compared to 2023, significantly higher than the 5% increase in tourism across all of Europe, showing the jump in popularity that the islands have been experiencing recently. In fact, this growth placed Malta among the top-performing destinations in Europe and the Southern Mediterranean, ahead of other countries including Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, and Croatia.
Most of these visitors arrived by air, with nearly 3.5 million flying in - up by almost 20% from the previous year. Sea arrivals also saw a small bump, up 3.3%, reaching about 68,600 passengers.
A large chunk of tourists came from the EU - around 2.4 million - while non-EU visitors grew by an impressive 21.9%, with 1.17 million visitors. Italy stayed strong, with over 616,000 visitors, and the UK saw a big jump, up 30.6% to 704,000. Other countries like Poland, France, and Germany also contributed to the growth.
When it comes to the reason for visiting, leisure tourism was the big winner, with over 3.29 million people coming to Malta for holidays - up by 21.4%. There was also a slight increase in business and professional travel, while other purposes like education and health tourism took a bit of a dip.
The spending trends of tourists have also been climbing, with the total expenditure of 2024 reaching a whopping €3.3 billion, compared to €2.7 billion in 2023, with each tourist spending an average of €924 during their stay in Malta.
Although more people visited, the average stay got shorter, averaging 6.4 nights compared to 6.8 in 2023. It looks like more tourists are opting for shorter stays, with 1-3 night stays up by 22%.
In terms of where they stayed, a lot of tourists - over 3.24 million people - went for rented places. More of them were staying in hotels or other rentals, while non-rented options stayed about the same.
And it wasn’t just Malta itself getting love - Gozo and Comino saw a rise in visitors too, with 2.04 million people heading to the sister islands, an 18.5% increase, with same-day visits also going up by 19%.
All in all, it looks like 2024 was a great year for Malta tourism - let's see what this year brings!
Do you know anyone who visited Malta for the first time this year?