General student arrivals in Malta in 2023 are just 5,000 less, or 6.1% lower, than the record levels in 2019, with 78,567 being latest figure compared to 2019’s 83,610.
Such arrivals have also improved by over 20,000 since 2022, when the figure stood at 56,675.
Student weeks are even more encouraging for the industry. They continued to improve dramatically, with a 15.2% increase on 2019 – 273,131 student weeks were logged in 2023 in contrast with 237,066 in 2019, and were a marked improvement on 2022’s figure of 246,314.
For FELTOM schools’ own share of the ELT market, there were 56,305 student arrivals – a 10.5% increase on its 2019 figures, and only a modest 2.3% less student weeks than in 2019: 164,716 to 168,577.
“Reflecting on the past year’s performance, it is heartening to note the resilience and adaptability of our schools,” noted Rebecca Bonnici, FELTOM chairperson.
Malta’s success could, though, have something to do with the fact that non-traditional source markets for tourism in the country are taking up more weeks at English language schools.
Brazil and Colombia, which have been gaining traction worldwide as source markets, were specifically singled out by FELTOM as “continuing to attract students” in 2019, and continue to do so in 2023 considering the figures from each country.
Colombia’s student weeks, while down from 2022 numbers, were still the single highest figure, with 44,713 – Brazil’s student weeks, which were the third highest out of all source markets, rose from just 10,883 in 2022 to 23,581 in 2023, more than doubling.
“The average duration of stay for students also saw an increase, indicating a growing preference for longer-term immersive language programs,” said Bonnici – a good portion of which, it seems, also came from Colombia.
The country’s students also had the longest average length of stay, FELTOM said, at 103 days, compared to 86.9 in 2019 pre-pandemic; Brazil also saw a rise in average length of stay, but were generally only staying around 35-36 days in 2023 – but still a rise from 29 days in 2019.
The average duration of stay for students also saw an increase
Rebecca Bonnici, FELTOM
Italian students were taking the second-most student weeks, with 33,075 in 2023 (with a much shorter average length of stay of just over 10 days) compared to 18,814 in 2022
In terms of revenue, FELTOM schools and others are seeing continuing growth, with the total increasing by 10.9% from 2019 – €328,400 compared to €289,200.
While accommodation revenue increased by over 7%, it was tuition revenue per student week that has recovered the most, likely due to FELTOM schools’ students staying longer as student weeks rise.
Compared to 2019, those figures went up by 17.7%, from €139 per student week to €167.50 in 2023.
