Increased connectivity is of paramount importance for an island destination such as ours
2016 ended up attracting the highest number of tourists ever recorded , with August alone reaching a quarter of a million visitors . In fact , by the end of the year Malta received well in excess of 1.9 million visitors .
Having more tourists also meant having higher demand for accommodation of all types and in all categories , both collective and non . Increased demand also lead to higher revenues generated from tourism inflows , both due to greater volumes of visitors and also to a better mix of higher spending travellers . This in turn meant that our hotels and other accommodation and catering establishments have been able to improve their margins .
It is particularly encouraging to hear how many , if not all , of the hotels have been turning a profit in the low season whereas before it was almost inevitable that they would be losing money during the winter months .
During this year , we have continued with our efforts to make our islands even more accessible . Increased connectivity is of paramount importance for an island destination such as ours , and so we partnered with the Malta International Airport to attract new airlines to operate to and from Malta , whilst encouraging existing ones to increase their routes , frequencies and number of airports served . We are happy to note that together we have managed to obtain some very positive results in this regard , with MIA registering record performances in terms of volumes of passengers and with a number of airlines increasing their capacities not only in summer , but more importantly in winter .
On the marketing side , we have continued to invest a large portion of our total budget to bring Malta to the attention of the travel trade and the travelling public in what is becoming an increasingly crowded and competitive marketplace .
MIA has registered record performances in 2016 in terms of passenger volumes .
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