Hotel Performance Survey by Deloitte Malta
Insightful tourism industry knowledge
Malta's Hospitality sector at a crossroads
The Q1 headlines
- 807,000 tourist arrivals (+16.3% YoY)
- 4.5M guest nights (+11.9%)
- €585M tourism expenditure (+15%)
The caution
Beneath these numbers lies a paradox. While volumes are surging, visitor yield is declining. Average spend per tourist fell 1.1% to €725, driven by shorter average lengths of stay (5.5 nights vs. 5.7 in Q1 2025).
Shorter stays mean fewer opportunities for ancillary spending, lower per-visitor yield, and tighter operational windows for hotels to optimise revenue.
The hotel performance
RevPAR grew across all segments. The 4-star category is demonstrating the most sustainable model: balanced pricing discipline, moderate occupancy targets, and controlled cost growth—delivering expanded gross operating margins.
The challenge ahead
The sector faces three critical headwinds:
- Maximising guest yield (not just volume)
- Managing persistent cost inflation (especially labour costs)
- Making strategic choices about market positioning
The outlook
Over 50% of hotels which responded to a snapshot survey expect difficult August bookings. The top concerns included late booking behaviour, pricing pressure, competitive intensity, and geopolitical uncertainty.
The bottom line
Volume growth alone is insufficient. The path forward requires revenue diversification, operational efficiency, and premium positioning.
The industry is at an inflection point. The question isn't whether Malta can attract more tourists—it's whether we can attract the right guests, at the right price, while managing costs effectively.
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About the Hotel Performance Survey
Making informed decisions is key to the effective management of all business organisations. With close to 20 years’ experience in analysing performance, costs, trends and general market information of the tourism industry, Deloitte Malta is well established to provide advisory services and business solutions to operators in this sector.
The report highlights key performance indicators for various hotel categories including:
- Hotel occupancy levels
- Average daily room rates (ADR)
- Total revenue per available room (RevPAR)
- Operating costs
- Staff costs
- Industry outlook
Copies of the survey report are sent to all participating hotels free of charge. Copies are also distributed within the sponsoring banks and to key organisations within the tourism industry.
Please contact us should you have any queries.
