The Maltese travelled in droves to the UK during the recession year, registering a massive 84% increase in the period March-June 2009, over the same period in 2008.
The UK’s Office for National Statistics released its latest quarterly figures showing that travel to and from the United Kingdom had fallen year on year.
According to the second quarter figures, the Maltese were among those who travelled to and from the UK – 24,000 in total – almost double that in 2008’s second quarter.
On the other hand, the British reduced their travel by 28% to Malta with 106,000 passengers flying in.
The data suggests that the financial crisis had an adverse effect on the tourism and travel industries, with overall visitor numbers to and from the UK down on the same quarter last year, continuing the trend first seen when the 2008 annual figures were released in July.
Some countries have seen a significant increase in the number of visits to the UK, though, including – apart from Malta – Thailand and Luxembourg with an 84.6% rise. Much of the increase travelling patterns is owed due to a considerable expat population living in Malta, and of domestic consumers seeking travel and shopping bargains in the UK, hard hit by the recession.
According to the figures, Spain was the most popular destination for UK travellers, with 3,351,000 visits between April and June, followed by France (2,731,000), Ireland (940,000) and the USA (848,000). The least popular destination was Estonia; only 4,000 Brits visited over the three-month period.
The UK was most popular with the French; 1,100,000 visited over the quarter, followed by Germans (852,000), Americans (783,000) and Irish (685,000).
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