Tourism in Malta

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Tourism is Malta's main source of income. For a population of about Maltese, the archipelago received tourists in 2011.

Tourism industry

Background
From the Grand Tour, which marked the beginnings of the journey abroad by young members of the aristocratic classes of European society from the 17th century and especially in the 18th century, if Italy was the preferred region of destinations, many had the audacity to push their curiosity to Malta. In the 19th century, it was the incorporation of the archipelago into the British Empire that led to a strong movement of officers but also troops; Malta was indeed the rear base of British operations in the Levant. It is also the move to Malta from the home port of the Mediterranean fleet that creates the movement and use of the Maltese islands until World War II. It was during the post-war period that a real tourism movement began from the British islands to the Maltese islands. The study of the characteristics of arrivals, accommodation and length of stay clearly shows that these are usually family visits to military personnel stationed in Malta. This movement, which initially represents only a few tens of thousands of travellers a year, is steadily increasing from the 1950s until 1964, the date of Malta's independence. Although British troops would leave Malta only with the proclamation of the Republic in 1974, the Maltese authorities had the objective of transforming the military economy into a tourist economy. In the early years of 1970, the movement of travellers reached . A period of continuous strong growth began, bringing arrivals of tourists to more before a sharp fall in the vicinity of 1984.

Since 1985, with the exception of a period from 1994 to 1996, the number of tourists choosing Malta has steadily increased until 2002: in 1989, in 2002, followed by a decrease until 2004: in 2003, in 2004 and again a steady increase since then, except 2009: in 2005, in 2006, in 2007, in 2008, in 2009 and 2010.

Although Malta has lived for many years thanks to the economic activity of the British occupation troops, it has, in terms of figures, successfully converted its economic model through international tourism. This required heavy investment, since originally the needs of British travellers in the 20th century were far removed from the needs of tourists in the 21st century. If cheap hotels, a pleasant climate and a general so british atmosphere (language, food, etc.) were satisfactory at the time, today tourists are more demanding, many bed and breakfasts or hotels with limited comfort, turned into retirement homes after rehabilitation, have been replaced by luxury hotels, fish and chips by