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• Residents are Maltese/Gozitan residents who check in (out) of a collective accommodation establishment. A person is considered to be a Maltese / Gozitan resident if:
  1. S/he has lived for most of the past 12 months in Malta / Gozo;
  2. S/he has lived in Malta / Gozo for less than 12 months but intends to return within the year to settle into a life here.
• Non-residents are foreigners who do not necessarily follow the definition of a tourist and check in (out) of a collective accommodation establishment.

The questions:

• Arrivals (Question 1 and 2) refers to a person who arrives at an accommodation establishment and checks in.
• Nights spent (Question 3 and 4) refers to the number of nights a person actually spends in an accommodation establishment or dwelling.
• Room nights (Question 5 and 6) refer to the number of nights the person/s spent in a room.
• A bedroom (Question 7) is the unit formed by one room or groups of rooms constituting an indivisible rental whole in an accommodation establishment or dwelling.
• A bed-place (Question 8) in an establishment is determined by the number of persons who can stay overnight in the bed set-up in the establishment, not taking into account any extra beds that may be provided to clients on request.
• A dormant accommodation establishment (Question 9) refers to the number of days during the reference month for which the establishment was closed.

Foreign residents

• The average length of stay
  1. This is calculated by dividing the number of nights spent by Foreign residents by the number of Foreign residents. In terms of the questionnaire, this would imply dividing Question 3 by Question 1.
  2. Kindly note that this value normally falls within the range of 2 to 15 nights. There could, however, be cases where the average length of stay is higher than 15 nights.
• The average guests per room
  1. This is calculated by dividing the number of nights spent by the Foreign residents by the number of room nights sold to Foreign residents. In terms of the questionnaire, this would imply dividing Question 3 by Question 5.
  2. Normally, this value lies between 1 and 4 guests per room.

Maltese residents

• The average length of stay
  1. This is calculated by dividing the number of nights spent by Maltese residents by the number of Maltese residents. In terms of the questionnaire, this would imply dividing Question 4 by Question 2.
  2. Kindly note that this value normally falls within the range of 1 to 4 nights. There could, however, be cases where the average length of stay is higher than 4 nights.
• The average guests per room
  1. This is calculated by dividing the number of nights spent by the Maltese residents by the number of room nights sold to Maltese residents. In terms of the questionnaire, this would imply dividing Question 4 by Question 6.
  2. Normally, this value lies between 1 and 4 guests per room.

Hotel Occupancy

• Occupancy rate of bedrooms
  1. This refers to the overall occupancy of bedrooms for an establishment during a given month.
  2. For example, if an establishment has 100 bedrooms and is open during all of the month of January, the number of rooms that can be sold during that month should not exceed 3,100 (100 x 31). This would mean that the hotel had 100% room occupancy during the reference month.
• Occupancy rate of bed-places
  1. This refers to the overall occupancy of bed-places for an establishment during a given month.
  2. For example, if an establishment has 200 bed-places and is open during all of the month of January, the number of nights spent during that month should not exceed 6,200 (200 x 31). This would mean that the hotel had 100% bed-place occupancy during the reference month.
  3. In this case, bed-place occupancy might exceed 100% as extra beds can be provided by the hotelier if required, especially during peak months.

• The Collective Accommodation News Release is published on a monthly basis. Data is gathered by means of a census among all the accommodation establishments.
• The news releases are published online and can be accessed via the NSO website from the Industry & Services theme: www.nso.gov.mt