Gozo emerges as stronger overnight destination

Gozo continues to attract visitors looking to stay overnight, with only 10% of tourists visiting the island as day-trippers compared to 28% in Malta, according to new data released by GO.

The figures form part of the latest edition of GO Trends, a data intelligence report analysing the movement patterns, stays and spending behaviour of international visitors across the Maltese Islands throughout 2025.

The report, based on anonymised mobile connectivity data, provides insights into where tourists stay, how long they remain in Malta and Gozo, the events they attend, and how visitor flows change across different localities and seasons.

GO said the data can help businesses in tourism, hospitality, retail and events make decisions based on real visitor behaviour, including staffing, stock management, marketing and operational planning.

Among the report’s findings, German, Dutch and British visitors were found to consistently spend more than six days in Malta throughout all quarters of 2025. The data also showed that visitor profiles changed depending on events, with British tourists dominating Valletta during Carnival, while Polish visitors made up the largest share of visitors in Nadur, Gozo, during the same weekend.

GO said two major summer festivals held only weeks apart attracted different European audiences, highlighting changing patterns in visitor behaviour.

GO Market & Data Insights Manager Alison Schembri said the initiative aims to make anonymised data available to businesses to support better decision-making.

“The insights generated through our network every day are too valuable to keep to ourselves,” Schembri said, adding that GO Trends provides businesses with evidence to help them plan more effectively.

The company said the report analyses aggregated movement patterns generated when international visitors connect to GO’s mobile network, while protecting individual privacy and ensuring that no users are identified.

Unlike traditional tourism surveys based on samples, GO said the system captures broader visitor trends by analysing data from international visitors connecting to the network, allowing patterns to be examined by locality, time period, event and nationality.

The latest report covers the full 2025 calendar year, with GO currently preparing its first 2026 quarterly report, which will include year-on-year comparisons.