Malta recorded a total of 718,000 tourists in 2020, ranking 112nd in the world in absolute terms.
That smaller countries regularly perform lower in a comparison of the absolute number of guests, is obvious. By putting the tourist numbers in relation to the population of Malta, the result is much more comparable picture: With 1.4 tourists per resident, Malta ranked 35th in the world. In Southern Europe, it ranked 4th.
Malta generated around 1.85 billion US Dollar in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 12.60 percent of its the gross domestic product and approximately 1 percent of all international tourism receipts in Southern Europe.
On average, each of the tourists arriving in 2018 spent about 483 US Dollars. Conversely, the inhabitants of Malta spend as much as 602 dollars a year when they themselves spend vacations abroad.
Development of the tourism sector in Malta from 1995 to 2020
The following chart shows the number of tourist arrivals registered in Malta each year. Anyone who spends at least one night in the country but does not live there for more than 12 months is considered a tourist. Insofar as the survey included the purpose of the trip, business trips and other non-tourism travel purposes have already been excluded. The number of people passing through within the same day, and e.g. crew members of ships or flights are also not considered as tourists in most countries. If the same person travels in and out more than once within the same year, each visit counts again.
Data in the chart are given in millions of tourists. The red line represents the average of all 14 countries in Southern Europe.
Revenues in tourism
In 1995, tourism revenues amounted to 813.00 million USD, or about 21.85 percent of the gross national product. This corresponded to about 1.19 million tourists at that time and roughly 681 USD per person. Within 23 years, the country's dependence on tourism has decreased substantially. In the last year of the survey, the revenue now amounts to 1.85 billion USD, accounting for 12.41 percent of the gross national product. Each visitor now spends an average of 571 USD for his holiday in Malta.
All data for Malta in detail
Year
Number of tourists
Receipts
% of GNP
Receipts per tourist
2020
718,000
2019
3.52 m
2018
3.23 m
1.85 bn $
12.41 %
571 $
2017
2.94 m
1.75 bn $
13.21 %
593 $
2016
2.59 m
1.45 bn $
12.38 %
560 $
2015
2.38 m
1.38 bn $
12.45 %
580 $
2014
2.16 m
1.52 bn $
13.08 %
704 $
2013
2.01 m
1.40 bn $
13.29 %
696 $
2012
2.01 m
1.26 bn $
13.32 %
628 $
2011
1.92 m
1.28 bn $
13.24 %
666 $
2010
1.82 m
1.07 bn $
11.80 %
587 $
2009
1.61 m
899.00 m $
10.34 %
559 $
2008
1.83 m
1.08 bn $
11.90 %
591 $
2007
1.72 m
1.19 bn $
14.95 %
688 $
2006
1.52 m
966.00 m $
14.25 %
635 $
2005
1.48 m
924.00 m $
14.40 %
623 $
2004
1.43 m
949.00 m $
15.56 %
665 $
2003
1.51 m
869.00 m $
15.95 %
575 $
2002
1.48 m
757.00 m $
16.93 %
510 $
2001
1.44 m
704.00 m $
17.22 %
489 $
2000
1.39 m
731.00 m $
17.96 %
527 $
1999
1.40 m
841.00 m $
20.41 %
600 $
1998
1.33 m
818.00 m $
20.40 %
617 $
1997
1.24 m
789.00 m $
20.80 %
637 $
1996
1.12 m
780.00 m $
20.40 %
695 $
1995
1.19 m
813.00 m $
21.85 %
681 $
Our data on tourist numbers, revenues and expenditures are based on information from the World Tourism Organization. However, to ensure international comparability, the data for some years or countries were manually researched and corrected if they obviously included visitors without overnight stays. In these cases, the data were taken from the official communications of the respective national tourism authorities.
The WTO additionally points out that in some countries the number of tourists is only counted at airports, in others also at border crossings or even hotels. A comprehensive and reliable indication is therefore hardly possible in any country.
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