Malta’s tourism sector is on track to have surpassed a major milestone in 2025, with total inbound arrivals likely exceeding 4 million for the first time, based on official data and year-end traffic trends.

According to the National Statistics Office, inbound tourist arrivals reached 3.8 million in the first eleven months of 2025, representing a 12.6 per cent increase over the same period in 2024 . While official figures for December are yet to be published, available indicators suggest that full-year arrivals comfortably crossed the 4-million mark.

In December 2024, Malta recorded approximately 192,000 inbound tourists. Malta International Airport has since confirmed that passenger traffic in December 2025 increased by around 20 per cent year-on-year. Even a modest uplift in tourist arrivals relative to last December would have been sufficient to push total inbound tourism beyond 4 million for the year.

Beyond visitor volumes, the financial contribution of tourism also strengthened significantly. Between January and November, total inbound tourism expenditure reached €3.74 billion, an 18.7 per cent year-on-year increase, while per-capita spending climbed to €985, highlighting improved yield alongside higher volumes.

The data points to continued resilience across Malta’s tourism ecosystem, with rented accommodation accounting for the majority of guest nights and sustained growth in non-EU source markets. Gozo and Comino also continued to attract strong visitor interest, with over 2.2 million tourists visiting the islands during the first eleven months of the year.

Taken together, the figures reinforce tourism’s role as a central pillar of Malta’s economy, while raising important questions for investors and policymakers alike around infrastructure capacity, labour availability, and long-term sustainability as visitor numbers continue to scale.