National Tourism Survey and Inbound Tourism Survey (Tourstat)

1. In 2014, the National Statistics Office introduced a new tool to measure National Tourism to satisfy the concepts and definitions as outlined by Eurostat. The collection consists of tourism demand data on domestic and outbound trips as required by Regulation (EC) No. 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning statistics on tourism statistics. The Regulation aims at giving a complete and comprehensive picture of tourism in Europe and allows the comparability of results with other EU member states. Data is collected via a quarterly Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) survey.

2. Domestic tourism excludes individuals aged 0 to 14 years and overnight stays within the same region of origin, such as, weekend breaks in Malta region by Malta residents.

3. Inbound tourism data are collected from an ongoing frontier national survey known as Tourstat. Tourist air departures are collected through a continuous survey carried out at the departure lounge of the Malta International Airport. A two-stage sampling design is used to collect data on air passengers. In the first stage, alternate days and nights are selected. In the second stage, within each shift, a sample of air passengers is selected systematically. Every crossing air passenger is counted and respondents are selected using a pre-defined interval of 1:20, with the exception of July 2020 and the period October 2020 to June 2021, where the pre-defined interval was 1:10. 

4. Tourstat measures the number of tourist trips carried out during a reference month. ‘Tourist trips’ differ from the ‘number of tourists’ in that the same person can make more than one trip during the same period. 

5. Tourist sea departures are collected through a regular survey carried out at the Valletta Cruise Port during three separate months every year. A quota sample is used. Survey data is supplemented by administrative data provided by ferry operators.

6. Definitions:

●  Usual Environment: The geographical area, though not necessarily a contiguous one, within which an individual conducts his regular life routines and shall be determined on the basis of the following criteria: the crossing of administrative borders or the distance from the place of usual residence, the duration of visit, the frequency of visit, the purpose of visit.

● Resident: A person is considered to be a resident of Malta/Gozo and Comino if:
(a) S/he has lived for most of the past 12 months in Malta/Gozo and Comino;
(b) S/he has lived in Malta/Gozo and Comino for less than 12 months but intends to return within a year to settle here.

● Traveller: A person who moves between different geographic locations, for any purpose and any duration.

● Visitor: The three fundamental criteria used to distinguish visitors from travellers are:
(a) The trip should be to a place other than that of the usual environment, which would exclude short-distance local transport and commuting, i.e. more or less regular trips between the place of work/study and the place of residence;
(b) The stay in the place visited should not last more than twelve consecutive months, beyond which the visitor would become a resident of that place (from the statistical standpoint);
(c) The main purpose of the visit should be other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited, which would exclude migratory movements for work purposes.

● Tourist: A visitor who stays at least one night in a rented and non-rented accommodation in the place/country visited.

● Domestic tourism: Comprises the activities of a resident visitor within the country, i.e. Maltese residents visiting Gozo and Comino and vice versa and staying for not more than 12 consecutive months for personal, business or other purposes.

● Inbound tourism: Comprises the activities of non-resident visitors travelling to Malta (i.e. outside their usual environment) and staying for not more than 12 consecutive months for personal, business or other purpose. The number of inbound tourists cannot be equated to monthly passenger data released by the MIA because the latter includes departing Maltese and transit passengers.

● Outbound tourism: Comprises the activities of residents of Malta travelling to, and staying in places outside Malta and therefore outside their usual environment.

● Same-day visitor: A visitor who does not spend the night in rented or non-rented accommodation in the country/place visited.

● Single centre destination: Refers to inbound tourism trips with overnight stays in one region only.

● Twin centre destination: Refers to inbound tourism trips with combined overnight stays in two regions, i.e., Malta and Gozo and Comino regions.

● Total nights spent: Nights which a guest actually spends or is registered to spend in a rented accommodation establishment or in a non-rented accommodation.

● Average length of stay: The number of nights spent divided by the number of trips during a specified reference period. 

● Rented accommodaton: Consists of the following two sub-categories:
(a) Collective accommodation: comprises hotels, guesthouses, hostels, tourist villages, holiday complex, Bed & Breakfast and campsites.
(b) Other rented accommodation: comprises holiday furnished premises (farmhouses, flats and villas), host families, marinas, paid-convents, rented yachts and student dormitories.

● Non-rented accommodaton: Comprises own private residence (owned dwellings, owned caravans and yachts), staying with friends or relatives (even if charged – includes also friends’ private apartments) and other private accommodation (oil rig, free-convents or timeshare, etc.).

● Total expenditure: Refers to the amount that is going to be paid for the acquisition of consumption goods and services, as well as valuables during tourism trips. It includes expenditures by visitors themselves, as well as expenses that are paid for or reimbursed by others. The total expenditure is broken down by the following expenditure items:
(a) Package expenditure: refers to the whole amount of money spent on transport, accommodation and other services such as rental of a car, activities or outings during the trip.
(b) Non-package expenditure: is the amount of money spent on transport and accommodation reported separately.
(c) Other expenditure: is the amount spent on shopping, souvenirs, tickets for concerts or sports events, entrance to museums or zoos and day excursions during a tourism trip. It also includes durables and valuable goods, that is, the amount spent on cars, computers, paintings, jewellery and works of art.

7. Arrivals and nights spent in time-share accommodation are being categorised in ‘Non-rented Accommodation’ instead of ‘Collective Accommodation’ as per Eurostat recommendation. In this regard, there may be minor differences between these statistics and statistics published in tourism supply due to the fact that hotels report time-share accommodation under ‘Collective Accommodation’. 

8. Prior to comparing and interpreting differences between demand-side (based on Tourstat) and supply-side (based on Accomstat) tourism statistics, users are strongly advised to consult concept 15.4 of the NSO’s metadata file.

9. Absolute changes between one survey estimate and another must be treated with caution since minor changes (i.e. less than 1,500 trips) might be the result of sampling error. Percentage changes for tourists based on counts of less than 1,500 are not presented due to sampling errors.

10. The expenditure data in this publication should not be equated to national tourism earnings. 

11. In view of the COVID-19 situation, the Tourstat survey was suspended between 12 March and 30 June 2020. Statistical methods were applied to cover the period from 13 March to 20 March 2020, when scheduled passenger flights were still in operation.

12. In view of the COVID-19 situation, prohibition of non-essential travel between Malta and Gozo came into effect on 03 April 2020 and was lifted on 04 May 2020 (L.N. 118 of 2020: Public Health Act (Cap. 465); Mandatory Non-essential Travel between Malta and Gozo Order, 2020.

13. Malta International Airport reopened on 1 July 2020. The first group of destinations that reopened for travel comprised: Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Poland, Cyprus, Switzerland, Iceland, Slovakia, Norway, Denmark, Hungary, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Greece and Croatia. Restrictions on all other flight destinations were lifted on 15 July 2020.

14. During the COVID-19 situation, the following tourism-related sequence of events took place in 2020: