The impact of tourism
There is no doubt that Malta relies heavily on tourism, with nearly 40% of the earnings of the Maltese Islands related to tourism in some way.In the past the islands relied too heavily on tour operators to bring package holidaymakers to the islands. This meant that money paid by the tourists did not always stay in Malta.
Also, the rapid increase in tourism in the 1970’s meant that some hotels were not built as well as they might have been, causing some areas to look less attractive.
Recently, more modern hotels have been built to a higher standard and generally the standard of accommodation is increasing. More 4 and 5 star accommodation has been built in recent years, attracting more ‘high-spending’ tourists.
One of the advantages of the climate of Malta is that it is warm enough for tourists for nearly all of the year. The winter months have warm and pleasant temperatures. This means that there is no marked ‘off season’ and tourists arrive throughout the year.
 | A recent development in Malta, as in many destinations, is the growth in the number of cruise ship passengers visiting Malta. The number of cruise ship passengers visiting has grown very fast over the last few years, as the table below shows. |
The exact number of cruise ship passengers is known because each ship has to notify the authorities of how many passengers it is carrying when it enters harbour.
The growth of cruise ship visits to Malta has a number of impacts, not all of them positive.
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