Building on the positive tourism performance of 2025, the Government, tourism operators and all stakeholders will continue working together to attract more higher-spending visitors and strengthen growth in off-peak months.
On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Ian Borg, addressed a Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) conference announcing the MHRA BOV Deloitte 2025 Hospitality Performance Survey. He encouraged tourism operators and all other stakeholders, to continue to raise standards, diversify offerings, and augment resilience and sustainability.
Dr Borg referred to the 2025 tourism statistics published last week, including the 2.5 million increase in bed nights, reaching 25.4 million, the sharpest percentage increase across the EU. He also noted that the highest percentage increases in arrivals were recorded in the winter months, reflecting ongoing efforts towards an all-year destination. When looking at visitors’ demographic profile, young tourists under 24 years old recorded the lowest increase, at 3%. Contrarily, visitors aged 45 to 64, and those over 65, registered a greater rise, up 21.6% and 23.8% respectively, indicating a gradual shift towards older visitors who are likely to have a higher spending power.
“Rather than arrival figures, it is these metrics – bed nights, off-peak performance, expenditure and the type of visitors we are attracting – that we must focus on in coming years, because they are the real indicators of the success or failure of our strategies, investments and collective efforts going forward,” the Deputy Prime Minister explained.
In this regard, the Government is fully committed to continue working with the industry and other stakeholders and ensure that growth is responsibly managed towards resilience and long-term value, by consolidating year-round tourism and the targeting of higher-value markets.
Dr Borg reminded that the launch of the first direct Malta – New York flights in June will be a significant milestone in expanding Malta’s long-haul reach, opening new opportunities for premium travel segments and reinforcing Malta’s global positioning. “Through a synergy between our tourism and foreign affairs portfolio, we are intensifying efforts towards further diversification in our connectivity mix, especially the attraction of more routes to other long-haul markets,” he said, as he called on stakeholders to “work together, and harder, to make sure that we get the best returns on every seat we secure.”
Commenting on the results of the MHRA survey, Dr Borg welcomed the improvements in hotels’ revenues and occupancy levels, which generate multiplier effects across restaurants, suppliers, entertainment providers, transport operators, and other producers and service providers.
The 2025 Hospitality Performance Survey shows that last year, hotels registered an overall 7.7% increase in revenue per available rooms, with occupancy levels of 71%, 82.6% and 77.8% for the five-, four- and three-star categories. Average daily rates increased by 4.4%, 5% and 4% respectively, when compared to 2024.
The Deputy Prime Minister commended the MHRA for its indispensable role as a strategic partner of tourism development in Malta, as he invited its members and other stakeholders to engage with the Malta Tourism Authority in this year’s strategic review process, to realign ongoing and future investments and initiatives towards an updated strategy for the period 2027 to 2035.
During the event, Deputy Prime Minister Borg also presented MHRA plaques of appreciation to a group of employees at the Corinthia St George’s Bay Hotel, who courageously saved and assisted two tourists who were carried out to sea by the waves at the hotel’s lido, last month.
Photo: DOI/MFT
