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5 NEWS 17.2.2022 TOTAL inbound visitors for December 2021 were estimat- ed at 75,738, while total nights spent amounted to 775,189. During the month under review, a total of 63,609 inbound tourists visited Malta for holiday purposes, followed by 7,140 tourists for business purposes. e largest share of inbound tourists were aged between 25-44 (41.4 per cent), followed by the age bracket 45-64 (28.8 per cent). French, German and Italian residents com- prised 36.6 per cent of total inbound tourists. e largest share of guest nights (76.7 per cent) was spent in rented accommodation establishments. e average length of stay of total inbound tourists stood at 10.2 nights. Total tourist expenditure reached almost €55.0 million. e average expenditure per night was estimated at €70.8. January-December 2021 Inbound tourists for the year 2021 amounted to 968,136, an increase of 47.0 per cent over the year 2020. Total nights spent by inbound tourists increased by 60.5 per cent, sur- passing 8.3 million nights. Total tourism expenditure was estimated at €870.7 mil- lion, an increase of 91.3 per cent when compared to the previous year. Total expenditure per capita stood at €899, increasing from €691 in 2020. 14 February 2022 | 1100 hrs | 019/2022 Total inbound visitors for December 2021 were estimated at 75,738, while total nights spent amounted to 775,189. Inbound Tourism: December 2021 During the month under review, a total of 63,609 inbound tourists visited Malta for holiday purposes, followed by 7,140 tourists for business purposes. The largest share of inbound tourists were aged between 25-44 (41.4 per cent), followed by the age bracket 45-64 (28.8 per cent) (Table 1). French, German and Italian residents comprised 36.6 per cent of total inbound tourists (Table 5). The largest share of guest nights (76.7 per cent) was spent in rented accommodation establishments (Table 3). The average length of stay of total inbound tourists stood at 10.2 nights (Table 1). Total tourist expenditure reached almost €55.0 million. The average expenditure per night was estimated at €70.8 (Table 4). January-December 2021 Inbound tourists for the year 2021 amounted to 968,136, an increase of 47.0 per cent over the year 2020 (Table 6). Total nights spent by inbound tourists increased by 60.5 per cent, surpassing 8.3 million nights (Table 8). Total tourism expenditure was estimated at €870.7 million, an increase of 91.3 per cent when compared to the previous year (Table 9). Total expenditure per capita stood at €899, increasing from €691 in 2020 (Table 11) ■ Statistics in this News Release should be interpreted in the context of the COVID-19 situation. During the COVID-19 situation, the following tourism-related sequence of events took place in 2020: 28-Feb Passengers flying in from Italy, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Iran and South Korea, from 26 February onwards were requested to stay in quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. 8-Mar Flights from/to Milan were suspended. 10-Mar Flights from/to Italy were suspended. 10-Mar Last cruise liner call. 11-Mar Flights from/to France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, were suspended. 11-Mar Passengers flying in from France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, were requested to stay in quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. 13-Mar All passengers flying in from all destinations were requested to stay in quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. 18-Mar Last Virtu' Ferries service for passengers between Malta and Sicily was operated. 21-Mar All flights from/to all destinations were suspended. 1-Jul Re-opening of Malta International Airport. 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. 15-Jul Restrictions on all other flight destinations were lifted. 21-Aug First cruise liner call since March 2020. Sources: Malta Tourism Authority, Virtu' Ferries, Transport Malta and Valletta Cruise Port Sequence of tourism-related events during COVID-19 in 2021 Inbound tourists for 2021 amounted to 968,136, a 47% increase over 2020 MALTA International Airport has reiterated its appeal for require- ments that facilitate travel and put Malta on an equal footing with sim- ilar Mediterranean destinations in time for the upcoming summer sea- son. January traffic through Malta In- ternational Airport increased four- fold over the same month in 2021. However, last month's passenger numbers remained 62 per cent be- low pre-pandemic levels (2020), as the effect of restrictions introduced across Europe towards the end of last year rippled into 2022. The seat load factor (SLF) for Jan- uary stood at 55.7 per cent, indicat- ing that just over half the seats avail- able on flights operated to and from Malta International Airport were occupied throughout the month. Top markets Flights operated from Malta car- ried a total of 159,357 passengers, with January's top drivers of traffic being Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland, Germany and France. From among the top five markets, France showed the strongest recovery rate over 2020. Poland, on the other hand, was the only top market to register growth compared to 2020. While Poland has featured reg- ularly in Malta International Air- port's monthly market leaderboards since 2018, it is the first time that the market has outperformed both Germany and France to rank third. Poland's excellent performance stemmed from the operation of the Warsaw-Modlin route in January and strong seat load factors regis- tered across Malta International Airport's seven Polish routes. Prior to 2019 a lot of strategic effort by Malta International Air- port and the local toursim author- ities had been put into stimulating growth from the Polish market, as bigger legacy markets, including the United Kingdom and Italy, were reaching maturity. Outlook The rest of the first quarter of 2022 is expected to be challenging. However, the recent easing of re- strictions in important source mar- kets for Malta International Airport and the coming into force of the new intra-EU/EEA regime are expected to gradually restore normality in re- lation to air travel over the coming months. In a statement released jointly by Airports Council Internation- al (ACI) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on 1 February 2022, the two organi- sations urged the governments of five countries, including Malta, to "abandon unnecessary and damag- ing restrictions" and align their re- quirements with the common EU framework. January traffic through MIA down 62% compared to 2020 Passenger traffic in January

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